Gaining Power
by Rikuriroxa
Summary: Harry and Emily have made their escape from Britain and are travelling the world. But Emily only resides in the darkest of places, and Harry's light may be snuffed out before they can return. Fem!Voldemort
1. Chapter 1

A/N: So I know I was all like 'not gonna start til January', but I failed. And I apologize. If you haven't read Power is Control... you're gonna be lost here. Big thanks to everyone who has stuck with me til now, and may I present: Gaining Power.

Chapter 1

"I am sorry to say that it would seem that Mr. Potter has left us."

Albus Dumbledore was seated inside the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. The entire room was full so much so that the door was ajar and even people outside were listening closely to the headmaster's words.

"Does that mean You-know-who has him Albus? Is she going to kill him?"

Molly Weasley was incapable of holding back her worry. An unfortunate side effect of having seven children means one has more of said emotion than others.

"I am reasonably confident that Harry's physical well being will be more than adequately provided for in Lord Voldemort's care. It would seem that the two of them are, romantically involved."

Dumbledore expected shouts of indignation, but his statement was met with shocked silence. Molly wasn't one to take such a harsh truth so easily, however, and pressed onward.

"So, it's a love potion, or possibly a compulsion charm?"

"I understand it's a difficult thing to take in, but the truth is that whatever they hold between one another is completely consensual.. Harry is without a doubt in love with Voldemort and if he is to be believed, and might I add, that I do believe him, she feels the same way for him."

"Albus, that's preposterous. There is no way that Harry loves her. The woman killed his parents. Tried to kill him in his first AND second year at Hogwarts. There's just no way something like that could grow between them, it's impossible." Sirius voiced his own disbelief.

Albus remained quiet as the man gave his short rant. With a sigh, "I spoke to Harry about the issue at length before he fled the school with Voldemort. Their relationship has been going on for months. There is no way to coerce a relationship, through muggle or magical means, for that length of time without some obvious signs. Signs we would have picked up on."

The griseled voice of Alastor Moody silenced the muttering. "What we need to really think about is what our next step is. Voldemort has her claws in Harry bloody Potter, and if he is smitten with her, that means she can control him. Worst case scenario we'll be facing two dark lords, instead of one. And that scenario sounds like a bigger shit show than we have ever had to deal with."

The muttering resumed with an even greater intensity after Moody was done. Would Harry Potter now oppose them? Would he be a public enemy, aiding Voldemort in her effort to suppress muggleborns and push her own agenda forward?

"Everyone remain calm."

Albus allowed his voice to raise, quickly gaining the other's attention. "As I have said, Mr. Potter and I did discuss his relationship. He mentioned more than one instance where he completely opposed Emily's plans and ideas and told me that if it weren't for the oath he had been forced to make to her to keep her secrets he would have informed me of her ruse. I feel that Harry has no interest in championing her cause. Rather I feel as though he wishes to tame her."

"Tame her? Doing a good job isn't he. Bitch took off half of McGonogall's face, Flitwick is still in St. Mungo's and last we heard, Snape's missing half the organs in his upper body." Mundungous Fletcher had not participated in the final confrontation, but that didn't mean he wasn't aware of what transpired. Fortunately for him, Dumbledore had been able to retrieve his wand and possessions so he wasn't too put out about the event.

"Perhaps tame is a poor choice of wording. He wants to prevent the worst outcomes she is capable of bringing about. He seeks to protect the things she is willing to destroy. And a part of me believes he will succeed."

"Please don't tell me you are suggesting we do nothing, Albus? He's out there with that psychopath, we have to bring him home." Molly rejoined the fight, but once again the old headmaster overruled her.

"I have no clue as to their location, Molly. I would surmise that Voldemort would stay in the country as this is where her support base is. But that also gives her a good reason to flee to the continent, knowing we would focus our efforts here."

Arthur cleared his throat gently. "I believe what my wife is asking for is what we are going to do about the situation as a whole. Not just the idea of getting Harry back as soon as possible, but all of our efforts in regards to him and his... relationship."

"I have already taken all necessary steps I can in regards to his protection at the present. While those steps weren't many in number, they do ease my mind somewhat. What comes next is up for debate. I believe they will remain in Britain, as she will wish to continue her previous crusade against the muggles."

Dumbledore heaved a sigh, before continuing to a part of the conversation he didn't wish to speak of. "I made an attempt to sever the relationship between the two. Or rather, I was going to. It was my intention to place a memory charm on Harry, removing his memories of Emily in their relationship and replacing her with someone else. Someone who left him, though on good terms."

"Why not just remove the relationship all together?"

"His emotions were too strong. Had I removed the entire relationship, he would have been left a shell of himself. Imagine feeling such a powerful love, an intense longing for someone, but not knowing who or even what it could be. Best case scenario would have been a severe case of depression, the worst case being things I do not even wish to think of."

"Is that still the plan then? Get him back, and addle his noggin."

Moody's wording spared no ones feelings, though no one voiced any misgivings.

"I fear that approach is better left as a failed attempt. In trying that option I pushed Harry far away from us. Practically forced him into Voldemort's arms. He will likely now fear any contact from us as a way to continue my previous intentions. Something I have also taken steps towards mending, though I can not know how well they will be received."

Dumbledore took a deep breath, before steering the conversation through the rest of his plans. "Arthur, now that the ministry is aware of Voldemort's return, I want you to pressure your office into looking into the homes of Death Eater's for 'dangerously misused muggle artifacts'. We need to find where they have hidden away. Our main objective now is to reestablish a peaceful contact with Harry, along with thwarting Voldemort's agenda. I want you and your family to be the ones to reforge that connection with Harry. Harry left your son, and Ms. Granger ways to contact him, and I feel that if there is anyone Harry feels he may be able to trust, it's his friends, your family, and Sirius. Instruct your son to do whatever he must to ensure Harry is aware that he is on Harry's side, even if that means young Ronald must keep Harry's secrets from us."

Arthur didn't look too comfortable with the idea, but nodded his consent. Albus couldn't blame the man, considering Harry's current company. He had already spoken with the Granger family in regards to communicating with Harry, so Albus felt as though he had covered as many bases as he was able to.

The meeting continued with little fanfare. Death Eater activity had spiked with the attack on the ministry before immediately calming, though Dumbledore was already aware that the attack on the small muggle town was merely a diversion, so it was not discussed in depth. He concluded the meeting with a weary farewell, and left for Hogwarts. Things were about to escalate, he knew, but he did not know how.

* * *

It was the sunlight that woke Harry Potter from his sleep. It was brighter here than it was in Britain. He blinked his eyes slowly, allowing them to adjust to the light. Taking a deep breath he pulled himself softly from the bed, unwilling to awaken its other occupant. She needed the rest. Standing in the modest room, Harry looked down at Emily's face, which was the only part of her exposed, the rest being covered by linens and bandages. The sores on her face had faded to jagged pink scar tissue, and though Emily had told him they would heal fully in a day, the sight still pained him. She had gotten injured for his sake after all, he couldn't escape the guilt.

Gently tilting his head to her face, he gently ran his lips across one of her injuries, before whispering, "I'll be right back." She slept soundly through his words, but the need he had felt to say them could not have been ignored. Silently making his way through their rented rooms, he opened the door and walked downstairs to the inn's entrance. While Emily may have been capable of going without basic necessities, he still got hungry. He dreaded the difficulty he was going to face in having to get a meal in a foreign country, whose language he didn't know, but he would have to make do.

The night before, Harry had summoned three muggle's wallets. The first had been almost useless, but he took the small amount of francs and used the gemino charm to duplicate them. When Emily had told him this charm, she had expressly told him it was very unwise to use the spell on currency, muggle or magical. The charm would backfire terribly if used on galleons, sickles and knuts, and Gringotts had similar charms placed on all muggle currency that went through their hands. The spell worked fine, and Harry rushed after the man, telling the man he had dropped his wallet. The man gave him an odd look, before thanking him, or at least, Harry assumed it was thanks, before leaving. Two more wallets followed, and Harry's luck kicked in with the third attempt. After copying the billfold's contents and once again returning the item to its owner, Harry went back to the bench he had set Emily. Offering her his arm, he helped her make her way to the nearest inn.

Harry found that he didn't have to worry too terribly about the language barrier. He went to a small store and picked up a handful of snacks and cans of food, before making his way to the cashier. The elderly man greeted him politely, and Harry returned the phrase as well as he could, though the old man did give a small laugh, probably for his terrible accent. When the transaction was over, the old man spoke in English. "Have a great day." Harry gave the man a smile and a wave, and made his way back to Emily.

The two of them had stumbled into the inn the night before and Harry was certain he would have to imperius someone to get a room. As far as he was concerned, the best case would be that the two of them might be considered completely smashed. Though if someone got a look underneath Emily's hood and saw the condition of her body, he'd probably spend the night in a jail cell, since he wouldn't be able to communicate well enough to make up some explanation.

He should have been more aware that Emily was always prepared. She pushed away from him and made her way to the front desk. She had begun speaking in hurried French to the young lady behind the desk, though she kept her hood low. After a moment, she motioned for him to approach and when he did, Emily told him to pull out six hundred francs and hand the notes to the woman. Harry did so and was relieved when they were handed a key and immediately were left to their own devices.

Once again in their rooms, Harry breathed a sigh of relief. This trip had excited him in the past, but he knew he was out of his depth with Emily out of commission. He had food and water now, though so all he had to do was wait for her to recuperate. He had just sat down in a small chair by the window when he heard a sharp crack in the bedroom where Emily was sleeping. The sound of apparition. Harry was instantly on alert, grabbing the first weapon he could, which turned out to be a plastic vase. Not the best item, but he figured it could intercept a curse while he dove at whoever had come to either retrieve him or hurt Emily. Though, what if it was one of her Death Eaters? How much did Emily tell her followers? What would he do if Sirius' crazy cousin was in the next room? These thoughts all rushed through his head as he was opening the door and peering inside the room. He saw no one. Pulling the door wide open in one swift motion, Harry scampered across the floor, staying low, hoping that whoever was there had their wand aimed chest high. His gaze tore across the left side of the room and then went to the right, before the sight of a house elf shocked him so badly he kept moving straight into the metal bed frame with a loud thud.

"Is Harry Potter sir, okay? Does he need a healer? Oh, Dobby is a bad house elf for scaring Mr. Harry Potter like that."

Gently rubbing the already forming knot on his forehead, Harry pulled himself up, the relief making its way to his head just as quickly as the pain. Though he had a very short list of people he felt he could trust, he counted Dobby among them, despite the fact he was employed directly under the headmaster.

"I'm fine Dobby. Why on earth are you here though?"

"Dobby is on a mission from Headmaster Dumbledore, sir. Dobby is to give you this."

Though the elf's words did make Harry question his previous trust, he had to let Dobby know that he wasn't leaving. Harry wasn't too sure what the limit was on house elf magic, but he knew they were powerful little beings.

"Dobby, I'm not leaving. I need to stay here. Whatever Dumbledore told you, he doesn't understand that I am needed here. I can't go home."

The elf's floppy ears made sharp, slapping sounds as they hit Dobby's head when the elf nodded furiously. "Yes, Dobby knows you have to take care of Emily Riddle. The headmaster told Dobby. He said you be needing this." With another sharp crack, a familiar trunk now stood between him and the elf. "These are all of Harry Potter's things. All of them. And the headmaster wrote you a letter too."

The elf held out his hand to show Harry a folded piece of parchment, which Harry could only stare at dubiously. Harry shook his head to clear his thoughts. Had Dumbledore wanted to portkey him away, then Dobby would have slapped him with that letter by now. Or maybe he wouldn't, maybe Dumbledore didn't know if Dobby would side with him over Harry. In that case, it really could be a trap.

"Is it safe?"

As though Dobby knew just what Harry was worried about, he nodded again, "Completely free of any magic, Dobby promises."

Harry finally relaxed. While Dobby was an odd house elf, he knew that Dobby wouldn't lie to him. Pulling the parchment of of the elf's hands, he unfolded the letter and began to read.

Dear Harry,

Let me begin this letter as it should, with an apology. I am sorry for attempting to take away your memories last night of Voldemort, or as I am sure you know her, Emily Riddle. You must understand Harry, I only want to keep you safe, and that safety will always be questionable in her company. I hope you can see the reasons behind my actions and at the very least accept, that what I was trying to do, those actions came from the right place. Still, the woman you love is as formidable as ever and has managed to pull you away from us. This has caused all of us a great deal of worry. Harry, you know what she is capable of. You know of the terrible things she can do, and while I think you're an incredible young man for wanting to make her a better person, I think if you look deep down into your heart, you will know that Emily Riddle is incapable of change.

I realize now that you and I are doing the same thing, trying to put an end to the blood shed that Emily has brought upon us. We are simply taking different paths to that goal. I want you to know Harry, that I will not interfere with your relationship with Emily Riddle in that manner that I attempted to do so before, but I have no intention of letting her continue her plans as she sees fit. The Order's primary goal remains the same, stopping Lord Voldemort. We have simply added the second primary goal, though no less important, of keeping you safe.

Come home, Harry. Please. I know you've said she can be a better person with you, but we need you here. I'm sure your answer to my plea is negative, but I felt the need to make it anyway.

If you are certain you wish to continue down the unknown road that is before you, I have instructed Dobby to give you all of your belongings. You'll find your father's cloak, your wand, and even your Gringott's vault key inside your school trunk. I wouldn't be a very good educator if I failed to prepare my students for the challenges they face in life, and you are not an exception. Be careful Harry. I know that Emily will keep you safe physically, but I worry what an extended amount of time in her exclusive company will do to you, emotionally and mentally. Stay strong, and don't lose sight of our goal.

Sincerely

Albus Dumbledore

Harry sat down on the floor he had just been rolling around in pain on, and placed his head against his trunk. Dumbledore was sorry, huh? Harry could believe that. It was easy enough, after all. Really, what had he expected his headmaster to do, let him traipse across the world with a dark lord who killed and tortured because she found it entertaining? Just trust the word of a fifteen year old that she would listen to him. Perhaps Dumbledore could've tried locking him up, that way he wouldn't have been able to join her. Forgiving the headmaster was simple, because Harry couldn't have thought of any other way for Dumbledore to have handled that situation.

And what exactly did Dumbledore mean when he said the Order was still going to stop Emily? Surely the man knew Harry would defend her as well as he was able. Why couldn't the old man just back off and let Harry try things his way? Giving an almost silent laugh, he once again reminded himself, how could possibly the greatest wizard in the world leave possibly the most powerful dark lord in the world in a teenager's hands. He couldn't, Emily was never just Harry's problem after all, she was his entire nation's problem. Harry knew he was young and naive, but now he knew he had to start leaving that part of himself in the past. He needed to look at the bigger picture, not just what he could perceive around him. He would have to raise himself to Emily and Professor Dumbledore's strategic level if he wanted to be a major player in this war.

Pulling himself to his feet, Harry placed Emily's wand next to her, on the bedside table. Returning to his trunk, he opened it and found that his own wand was laying neatly on top of his invisibility cloak, which was placed on top of everything else. Picking up his wand, he reveled in the way his magic reacted to its old partner. He had been very dismayed when he had thought he may never hold his wand again. The feeling only grew each and every time he cast a spell with Emily's wand. Though her wand responded well to him, even feeling similar to his own, it just wasn't the same. Hearing the sound of apparation again, he knew he was once again alone with Emily, Dobby either deciding to leave them alone, or having been called elsewhere.

"Where, pray tell, did you stick your trunk while we made our way here, Harry?"

He turned around quickly, smile spreading across his face, to find Emily looking at him groggily from the foot of the bed. It was a first for him, really. Other than today and the day before, he doubted he had ever seen her in such a state of disarray, including after hours of sex. Things had simply been to hectic lately for him to have taken note of it. Even on the night of her rebirth she had presented herself as an imposing, if completely naked, figure. Now, however, she looked every bit of the tired young woman that her appearance would lead one to believe.

"Wish I could wow you with something crazy, but Dobby just dropped it off."

"Ah, your little friend. Already have him running errands for you then?"

Harry wasn't sure how he wanted to handle this line of questioning. Should he tell her the truth, that

his trunk was a sort of peace offering to him from Dumbledore? He knew she would hate that. She was all for driving a wedge between himself and the headmaster. She had not even tried to hide her preference towards that outcome. To conceal the headmaster's attempt of reconciliation would be more advantageous to him in the long run, an ally she would not expect him to have if something drastic came up between them. But he didn't want to play those games with her anymore. He wanted them both to work together to overcome the things that were in their way, and not necessarily through brute force alone.

"Professor Dumbledore actually sent Dobby with them. He also apologized for trying to tamper with my memories. Said it was the best case scenario he had at the time."

"Oh please, is there ever a situation where one can ever justify that action?"

Harry couldn't help but stare at his girlfriend. "Pot meet kettle much?"

"The situations were different. I always had every intention of restoring you memories Harry. I doubt that man would have done the same."

"You would've restored them when it suited you. It would have had nothing to do with me, outside of your own manipulations."

"Still means I would've fixed them. You and I both know he would've wiped you clean, then try and replace me with either that ginger whore or your best friend. Not that either of them could even hope to love you like I do."

"I doubt anyone could love me like you, Emily. Why do you think I'm here with you now? Its not just because I make what are possibly the worst decisions available. I also am, slightly, emotionally invested in you."

She rolled her eyes at him, before her gaze turned heated. "I'm feeling much better, and I'd really love to see what else you might want to 'invest' in me." She reached her hand to his shirt, bunching it into her fist at the collar, and pulled him onto the bed where they shared a passionate kiss.

She pulled away from him, lying her body down onto the bed, beckoning him with a finger. "Viens à moi, belle étoile. Je te veux."* Harry had absolutely no clue what she had said to him, but he didn't need to know what the words were to know what she wanted. Crawling on top of her body, he finally started to enjoy his first visit in a foreign country.

* * *

Lucius Malfoy made his way through one of his sister in law's many discreet residences. Bellatrix and her husband, Rodolphous, had taken refuge here after the break out at Azkaban. While the property was quite large, the years of inattention had left it in an almost intolerable condition. Still, it served its purpose well enough. The Dark Lord had relayed quite the detailed list of instructions to him and he was informing all of her followers of the plans she had laid. Though she would not return to them for quite some time, she had made certain her presence would not be forgotten.

* Come to me, beautiful star. I desire you.

A/N: While I do speak some french, don't expect much from me. In every country they go to, I plan on having Emily toss Harry a foreign one liner or something. Something romantic. This one won't be updated as fast as the last one btw. I'm still 'waist' deep in the busy season of work, but I will crank out what I can. Once again, I have a vague sense of where we are going, but we all know how that turned out last time, ya know. So lets just let them evolve as they deem fit and enjoy the ride.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Had to take a good long hard look at this story. Im sure you're all aware that this series was originally supposed to parody the books. And the first one did as such. Loosely. However, with the hard left turn our AU took this is now all new content. Meaning I am having to hammer out a real plot. I can't rely on having a vague connect the dots plot line that the first one had because I'm no longer staying inside JK Rowlings sandbox. I'm trying to be more descriptive and flesh things out a step further. Taking more time with certain scenes. Anywho, we are going to be in France for at least one more chapter if not two before we move elsewhere. We are going to find ourselves going to some... sketchy places. In particular I have a pretty skeevy plotline involving my own country, the US. I like how ABC correction tries to turn skeevy into skeet... like, are you for real? And yes, I know skeet is a sport, but I mean the pervy version. Anyway, on with the show.

Chapter 2

Harry woke the next morning, pulling himself up into a sitting position, in a far better mood than the day before. It wasn't just the sex either. It was the entire situation. The morning before had been shrouded in uncertainty. Though he knew that Emily would recover, the what ifs had still plagued him. Now that she had regained her strength, though she had told him she would try not to stress her body too much, he felt ready to embrace their adventure.

"What are you sitting about for? Get ready." Emily entered the bedroom from the small adjoining bathroom with nothing on other than a towel. Which covered nothing as it was wrapped around her hair.

"What are we doing today?" He was curious as to what her plans were. The only real discussion they had over the past forty eight hours was his story on time travel. Though she had been in no shape to even pay his story any mind, she had listened with rapt attention, absorbing every detail. She had gone so far as to pull herself up to kiss him on the cheek when he told her of his patronus that repelled the dementors saying, "Only you would manage such a feat at the age of thirteen." He had blushed furiously, though he should have been used to her complimenting him. She did it as often as she reprimanded him.

"Paris will be our final destination of the evening. Though we will be making a handful of stops along the way."

"I take it Paris has it's own version of Diagon Alley?"

"Of a sort, though there are several more, almost as large, in other populated cities around France. Two of our stops will be in such places."

"You're being awfully vague here. Anything else I should know?"

She sighed, pulling the towel off of her head before sitting down next to him on the bed. "No, not really. I suppose I'm still not in the habit of telling people everything. Most people don't question me, and I'm not used to divulging everything."

He frowned at that, but she must have caught the look out of the corner of her eye because she quickly looked to him. "Not that I want to keep things from you, Harry. I want you to know everything, of course, I just want you to be aware that I may be awkward about it."

"Okay, then. I get it, you know. You're a leader, you don't tell your followers everything for many reasons, the most important probably being you don't want any information leaks."

She smiled at him again, before giving him a chaste kiss on his cheek. "Don't dawdle though, we do have a lot to do today."

Harry made quick work of preparing for the day. It took him less than ten minutes for him to meet Emily at the front door of the inn. Though she had told him they had paid the price for an entire week, that was only to ensure they received a room with less hassle. She had already gathered his belongings, telling him that she had shrunk them into her pocket. Handing him his wand and his cloak they made the short walk to a secluded area just outside of the town, she grasped his arm, "Hold on," and they were off.

The reappeared in a crowded, but dark alley that gave Harry goosebumps. The air smelled dank and though he could look up and see small bits of blue sky, those bits were few and far between. Most of the sky was blocked off by a cement ceiling. Shops lined the walls and there were a handful of vendors selling wares that Harry couldn't identify. The entire area gave Harry reminiscent feelings of Knockturn Alley.

"Where are we?"

"Nice. Well, close enough for it to count, anyway. Technically we are in the sewer system. Come, there is a shop over here I need to visit." Emily strode of, not even bothering the check if he was following her. She turned a sharp corner and by the time he made his way around it as well, she was gone, but he did see a door closing nearby, so he entered it. Emily was already at the counter, once again speaking French at a speed he couldn't comprehend. She looked back at him briefly before continuing her conversation. The young man she was speaking to could be considered handsome, were it not for the unpleasant look on his face and his beady eyes. Harry could tell Emily was getting frustrated, though he had no idea why. Eventually she slammed her hand onto the counter, making both Harry and the clerk jump into the air. She then yelled at the clerk violently, and the man attempted to draw his wand. His attempt failed. No sooner than his hand has disappeared inside his robes did Emily's blasting curse fling him the short distance between his place at the register and into the wall with a thud. Emily gave a quick huff, and hopped over the counter, and began waving her wand about.

"What was that about?" Harry was completely in the dark about their conversation, so he asked.

"Many years ago in this very shop, I came across an old book on soul magicks. I perused its contents briefly, but the information it held for me then wasn't useful to me. Now however," she gave him a pointed look. "Now I find myself wanting more information regarding some obscure soul magicks. In particular, bonds like the one you and I share. That little toad didn't want to hand it over so... things escalated."

"Why do you want the book though? Are you thinking about removing the horcrux?"

"Of course not, don't be stupid. I'm just curious as to how it will develop. We've been together for several months at Hogwarts, but that is still relatively short term. One should never play around in regards to magic that directly affects the soul. More information would be best to have."

"Aren't you the last person who should say that? You split your soul intentionally five times, and accidentally split it a sixth."

"I wasn't fooling around though. Each of those actions served a purpose, and now I am as immortal as I can possibly be." She didn't bother telling him of her plans to make a seventh horcrux. He needed fret over another murder. She would make certain it was deserved regardless.

Harry couldn't help but concede that fact to her. After all, though he was considered to be the only person to have ever survived the killing curse, she too had survived the curse when it had rebounded on her. He cracked a smile as he wondered if he could get away with calling her 'The Girl Who Lived', but ended up discarding the idea. He didn't want to be hexed.

Suddenly, something on a table to his left flashed blue and Emily let out a shout of triumph. She leaped over the counter and snatched up the glowing tome. Tucking the book away into the folds of her robe, she made her way to the store's only staff member, and Harry recognized the memory charm she performed.

"There, we have what we needed. Lets go."

"Sure."

As the two of them made their way back through the crowded and dark street, Harry lightly put his hand on Emily's shoulder. The touch held the weight of a feather, but it stopped her all the same.

"Thanks," he began. "I know your first instinct was to probably kill that guy, but you chose to do something different. I just wanted you to know I appreciate your decision back there." He couldn't really guess her true motivations behind leaving the man alive. For all he knew she didn't want someone knowing that something had happened, and a corpse is a dead giveaway. Pardon the pun. Still he figured if he kept bringing up the fact he recognized when she did something not completely horrible then maybe she'd get into some twisted habit of decency. Probably wouldn't work, but every little bit would help.

"I doubt I'll ever go so far as to killing someone in front of you without some drastic provocation, Harry. I know you're a kind soul, and I wouldn't want to expose you to that." Her reply wasn't really what he wanted to hear, but he knew this would be a step by step process.

Once again they apparated away, and this time the venue they arrived at looked normal. Instead of an alley, they were in a large park-like area. Emily let go of him and raised her arms upwards taking in a deep breath and doing a single spin.

"Welcome to Strasbourg, Harry." She had a playful smile on her face and Harry could tell that there was something about this city that she enjoyed more than others.

"What's so good about Strasbourg?"

"I'm glad you asked, love. Strasbourg is one of a small handful of muggle cities where the magical population is completely integrated into the muggle population. We can perform magic freely here right in front of your useless relatives and they wouldn't take any notice of it."

"What?! How?"

"Nobody really knows. The city's been around for over two millineum, and its always been like that. I spent two years of my youth studying and trying to replicate the effects, but my results where less than satisfactory. You can't imagine how useful it would have been to my plans had I been sucessful. Imagine making the entire world like this city Harry. I could conquer the world so easily if such ideas were reality. Avoiding the muggle's notice is the biggest hindrance to my ability so far, after all."

Harry couldn't really believe his ears. A city where muggles couldn't see magic. Or rather, it was more likely they couldn't comprehend its fundamental existance. Professor Binns had never covered such places in his History classes. Though, Harry begrudgingly admitted, he had slept through a fair amount of the ghost's lectures.

"You're dawdling, love."

At Emily's voice, he began looking around for her, seeing her at the end of the courtyard a several meters away. She was holding her hand out for him, waiting for him to join her. The sight of her posture and her small smile pulled at his heart. She was always going to do that, he realized. She would always wait for him to catch up to her and would do it happily. She'd never leave him. The thought opened a hole in his chest. What had he done to deserve that kind of love?

'She murdered your parents, for one,' his brain pulled no punches, immediately answering his question with the first response it had. But he found that response to be lacking, for that had been what she had done. What had he done himself? Emily was as incredible as she had to ability to be terrible, and she loved him with every fiber of her being. It could just have easily been Neville Longbottom, he reminded himself. Neville fared better than Harry had, though Neville's gran certainly seemed like a stern and harsh person, Neville loved the woman. Then again, he thought with a smile, he was apparently just as scare of the woman, remembering the boys mistaken reaction to Lupin's suggestion of his boggart turning into the elderly woman.

Harry dug a little deeper into his thoughts as he took Emily's hand and she led him along the streets at a leisurely pace. Emily, noticing he was absorbed in his thoughts, didn't say a word to him, the only indication he was in someone else's company, was her occasionally brushing her thumb over his knuckles or giving his hand a slight squeeze.

Harry realized that he had done some things. He had run off with her for one. Defended her from Moody's stunner was another one. He had learned some terrible magic at her request, something he would never had done otherwise. He took care of her sexual needs as well, though he had never thought of that as anything other than something they both immensely enjoyed. While he may not deserve the unwavering devotion she held for him, she had dug her own grave there, and he did his best do deserve and return the feelings she gave him.

"Harry."

He was pulled out of his musings at her voice again, not even realizing they had stopped. His eyes were drawn to her face, but she nodded towards the direction behind him. Craning his neck to see behind him, he saw a simple large brick building.

"Okay. What do we need here?"

"This is an apothecary. At least the upper floor is, the lower floor caters to various muggle needs. We are here to buy potion that will help me break the trace on you. The trace is inactive while you are outside the nation it was placed in, thankfully, but we will be returning one day. The potion you're going to drink will bring the spell to the surface of your body, as right now it is coiled around your magical core. I could break it around your core, though it would take longer and would be uncomfortable. The potion is called the Maledict draught and its old. Older than this city even. One of the first potions ever made, it was meant to bring curses placed inside the body to the skin where another wizard or witch could try and remove the magic. Most instances ended badly, as it takes a specific counter curse or a far greater amount of power to remove a curse placed on a person. And after the potion wears off and the curse makes its way back through the body, most suffer great pain or even death. For something as simple as the trace however, it can be administered easily enough with no worries, though if I fail, the trace will alert the French ministry as the spell with have been 'placed' in Frnace."

"I think I followed that well enough. What are the odds of you failing?"

"Hah, none of course. I was just telling you what would happen if someone else had been attempting it. I will have no trouble ripping the trace apart once I see it. Mind you, I doubt there are more than thirty people in the entire world capable of removing the trace on a minor such as yourself, and I'd wager that only Dumbledore and myself can do it while its still inside you."

"Did you just compliment Dumbledore?"

"Hardly," she said dryly. "I recognize his ability for what it is. I was more than capable of fending off him and two more of your professors in the ministry. Though I fear I may have killed three of your professors."

"What?! What the hell, Emily. Who did you hurt?" It didn't take long for the pleasant conversation to take a dark turn. Harry immediately began to fret over who Emily may have killed. Emily herself could tell he was stressed and had become tight lipped, not offering anymore information.

"Emily, what happened to not hiding things from me." Though he had worded it like a question, it came out as a simple statement. He was point blank calling her out on what she had told him earlier this morning.

With a sigh Emily figured she would try and soothe his anger as best she could. "Your potion's master is probably dead. Severus betrayed me, though I will give the man some credit. When I had Dumbledore and McGonagall otherwise occupied, he left his cover and engaged me one on one, though it did little to slow me down. I saw him fall though I am not sure to which curse it was, I was not using any other magic than something that would be deadly. Flitwick may or may not be dead. Bludgeoning curse to the skull. He is part goblin, however, and a goblin's skull can handle such trauma, so its up in the air as to whether or not his biology kept him safe. Minerva is probably alive. I crushed her skull too, though I used a blasting curse on the fireplace she was hiding behind. Dumbledore stopped fighting me in order to rush to her aid, which is why I figure Flitwick is also probably alive as your professor didn't rush to his aid."

"There is a small likelihood that all of your professors are fine, mind you. Severus could have survived long enough to get medical help. I trained with the man myself, he is quite capable. I'm certain if he did get hit by one of my curses, he would have taken on that wasn't the killing curse. I'm sorry to cause you this worry Harry. I... I did what I had to, to keep you with me. I would do it again too."

Harry didn't look at her. Just minutes ago he had been thinking she was damn near perfect before she dropped this bomb on him. Flitwick, happy, crazy little Professor Flitwick had his head crushed. There was no love lost between Harry and Professor Snape to be sure, but Harry felt a queer kinship with the man who loved his mother more than anything else. The man had cared enough about Harry to attempt fighting Emily alone in order to keep him away from her. That had to mean something. Professor McGonagall's fate hurt Harry even worse. Though she rarely believed him when he went to her with outlandish stories that were actually true, she would defend her students. She tried to defend him, and may be dead because of it.

"Hah," Harry gave a breathless laugh. "We just can't win, can we Emily? Let me see my trunk."

Emily's face gave nothing away as she pulled out Harry's trunk and enlarged it for him, in plain view of the muggles who paid her no mind. The sight made Harry almost panic before remembering that in this city such things could be done without repercussions.

Harry began digging through his trunk before finding the two diaries that would allow him to communicate with Ron and Hermione along with a quill and some ink. Though he had instructed Dobby not to give them to the two yet, seeing as Dobby had already come to him, it was possible the little elf had already gone ahead of schedule. Choosing to speak to Ron first, he opened the small book and began by writing his best mate's name. The ink was absorbed into the open pages before the small book was quickly covered by black ink. Harry was so startled he dropped the diary to the ground, before hastily picking it back up again. Looking at the pages he saw a perfect illustration of Ron laying in his four poster bed.

"I may have made some adjustments to your diaries while you were sleeping one night. They'll function as your mirror does with your godfather after you write one of your friend's names down. Its a clever bit of magic, wouldn't you say?" Harry would have agreed with her had he not had more pressing matters that needed attention.

"Ron. Ron! Wake up you git. It's like ten in the morning." It was Saturday, and Ron was out like a light. Harry waited patiently before hollering for his friend again and he was rewarded with Ron's gangly hand slapping his own face on the pages, before the book seemed to zoom in on his friends' face.

"Wazzat Harry? Mate it's too early, what do you want?" Only Ron would be so sleepy that he wouldn't freak out when hearing from his best friend who had run off with a dark lord.

"My girlfriend said she killed Snape, Flitwick and McGonagall. Checking in with you to see how they are."

"Killed Snape, Harry mate, what are you going on abo-" Ronald Weasley stopped abruptly.

"Harry, where the bloody hell are you? Girlfriend?! Are you really with You-know-who right now? Blimey Harry, get out of there before she kills you. You've gone round the bend, you have."

Emily took this moment to none to gently tilt the book in her direction. "I'm right here Mr. Weasley. Be thankful I am no longer your professor at Hogwarts, otherwise I'd have you in detention for a week doing the most unpleasant tasks I could find for you. In fact, I don't know if this will work, but fifty points from Gryffindor for disrespecting a professor and a fellow student."

Harry could see Ron's black and white face turn even whiter, which was impressive considering his natural complexion already made his image fairly light. "Professor Hurst?" Ron obviously didn't recognize his professor outside of her disguise, and was probably even more shocked to see a woman barely older than him.

"I prefer the name Emilline Riddle, or the Dark Lord. You may have the luxury of calling me Emily however as you are Harry's best friend. But don't think I won't reach through this diary and throttle you, should you say I will kill Harry again. I will do no such thing to him." She let go of the diary, but not before whispering to Harry, "Don't tell him where we are." He nodded to her and took control of the conversation again.

"Blimey mate. I feel like I should congratulate you on shagging the hottest professor we've ever had, but then again, she is you-know, I mean, Emily? God that's weird to say. What were you thinking?"

"Look Ron, I called to see how our professors are. So can we stick to that topic first?"

"What do you expect me to know? Their classes have been canceled sure, but no one's said anything about any of them being dead. If you want, I can go get Hermione and ask her. She probably knows."

"Yeah, that'd be great."

"Sure, you said its like ten and today's Saturday, so I'll probably find her in the library. Be back in like twenty minutes." Emily gave a little cough to his side, before holding up three fingers and a fist which Harry interpreted as the number thirty.

"Actually Ron, if you could just find her, I'll write, er... call you back in half an hour."

"Okay, I can swing that." He left the image and Harry assumed the talk was over, but before he could close the book, Ron's voice stopped him. Harry looked back down and saw his friend's face again. "Harry. Are you good, there? Do you need us to come get you?" Harry knew from Ron's voice that this had nothing to do with anyone other than him and his two best friends. Ron wanted to know if Harry wanted him and Hermione to come rescue him and it made him smile. The three of them would always be as thick as thieves and though they may not agree with his choice in a girlfriend, they would still look out for him as well as they could.

"I'm good, Ron. I'm happy. Talk to you soon, alright?"

"Yep, talk to you soon."

This time Harry closed the connection without interruption, and found Emily looking over his shoulder. "Nosy, much?" he asked, as he put the small diary in his back pocket.

She gave him a mischievous smile, saying, "Just wondering how your favorite little know-it-all is going to react to the situation you're in."

Harry didn't have a reply to that. Had it been any other scenario he knew Hermione would scold him and tell him to come home. But he knew that she and Ginny would sometimes read silly romance novels together and Harry couldn't tell which way she would swing on this issue. Would she find the entire situation romantic, or would she be clear headed enough to understand that Harry had, in fact, run off with a psychotic mass murderer? After that last thought, he decided she would scold him. Definitely.

"We have half an hour, so lets get busy. It won't take long to remove the Trace, but the potion is fairly obscure. Still, they will have it here, they have everything here, and its all for sale if you have the gold."

The entered the building, and took the stairs up to the fourth floor. Emily opened the door and Harry was shocked by how large the room was. The building was fairly large, but this room seemed to be as large as a football stadium, only the ceiling was twenty feet above them. Large vents were stationed in the ceiling every few feet and you could see wisps of color floating through the grates of metal.

"That's to keep one potions fumes from mixing with another. They've charmed the air above the cauldrons to keep them separate and the vents disperse them in random parts of the city's air. The small few that are toxic go elsewhere, though I don't know where that is." Emily began showing him all over the room despite their time limit and Harry felt that he learned more about potions in a few minutes than he had in all of his potions classes combined, though he couldn't brew any of them.

Once again Emily took control when they reached the counter and Harry was once again put out by not understanding what was being said. He'd have to ask her about either learning French or a spell to help him understand what she said. He just hated feeling so out of the loop.

The exchange of words was far more peaceful this time around as the clerk smiled and summoned a small vial of what Harry assumed was the potion she had asked for. However a moment later the man gave Emily a rather odd look before calling out to another employee and sending him off to perform some task that Harry had no way of knowing what it could be. The smile returned to the man's face and he and Emily continued their speaking. It was at this point that Harry became rather uncomfortable, thinking that this gentleman was perhaps showing a bit too much interest in Emily than should be appropriate. He wasn't quite sure what to do, however, he didn't even know if he was judging the interaction properly as he couldn't even understand it. He was just about to approach the two and at least interfere with the conversation when Emily turned and motioned for him to approach.

"Je vous presente mon mari. C'est l'amor de ma vie." The only thing Harry understood out of what she said was amor, which he knew meant love, so he smiled and butchered out a "Bonjour," to which they both politely laughed at. Emily turned his face to hers and gave him a look that made his knees weak before gently placing a kiss on his lips, before turning back to the conversation she was having with the clerk. She kept an arm wrapped around his waist however and soon the second employee had returned with a small, leather briefcase.

The total price of the two items nearly astounded Harry as he watched Emily shell out sixty three galleons for the items. Giving a merry wave at the clerk she grabbed Harry by the hand and began to make their way out of the store.

"I find it cute that you were getting jealous back there."

Harry was about to deny her accusation before remembering that she could feel his emotions and trying to deny it would be useless. "He was looking at you too much for me to be comfortable about. How was I supposed to feel?"

"Oh, the emotion was quite justified. The man was hopelessly flirting with me. He took one look at our features and assumed I was your older sister. That's why I called you over and introduced you as my husband and the love of my life. He was quite respectful after that. Said we were the cutest married pair he had ever seen, and to be so in love at a young age was beautiful. I won't lie to you Harry, keep your conversation with your friends as short as possible. Feeling your possessiveness was an incredible turn on. I need you."

He didn't need her to tell him that, as she wasted no time in pinning his body into the wall on the staircase and started kissing him hard. Her hands were running all over his body and Harry could only return the passion she was giving him. It never took much from her to light a fire inside him. She had her hands inside his pants, playing with him when a door below them opened and Harry heard footsteps on the stairs.

"Emily, someone's coming."

"Good, it had better be all over my hand." She picked up the pace and Harry had to bite back a groan. He was so close now and he could still hear footsteps below them. The pressure was growing so intense he leaned towards he and latched his teeth into her neck and bit down hard. He knew her body could take it. She let out a guttural moan when he did and tightened her grip on him further and in less than a moment after he was making the mess she had wanted all over her hand. Still gripping him, though in a far more gentle manner she moved her other hand to his lips, pushing two of her fingers into his mouth. He could tell she hadn't just been paying attention to his body as he could taste her on both fingers and he sucked hard on them. He only vaguely noted that the footfalls had faded and whoever it had been must've been leaving the building instead of going up.

"You're already late to speak with them, get on with it. We're going straight to Paris afterwards and I plan on making your eyes roll backwards so hard your going to tell me what your brain looks like." She pulled her hand from his mouth and drew her wand to clean up her other hand and his privates before stepping back from him. Harry had to blink the stars out of his eyes. The entire escapade couldn't have taken more than a minute, and what an amazing minute it had been. He pulled the small diary out of his back pocket, hoping she hadn't bent it too badly in her rush to get off with him and opened the pages.

As soon as it was open, Harry saw his two best friends looking at him. "Harry, mate, what's wrong? You look like you just ran a mile. Is it hot there? I can see the sweat on your face. Wow, this thing is detailed."

'Thank god Ron's still a virgin,' Harry thought. "I'm fine Ron."

Hermione, however wasn't so easily deceived. She huffed after seeing his appearance before saying, "You look more than fine to me. I'd wager your not even fully dressed, though thanks for at least having a shirt on."

"Come off it Hermione, Harry was out in public less than an hour ago. I could see people walking around him. No way would he dash off to shag You-know-who, then talk to us. That's just barmy."

He desperately wanted this conversation to take a drastic turn. He felt more than uncomfortable talking to his friends about his sex life and while Hermione wasn't necessarily right, she was close enough to make him nervous. "The professors. How are they, Hermione?"

"We didn't know until we asked Madame Pince as we left the library. Apparently all three of them are going to be fine, though Professor Snape is in for a long recovery. You're... partner, apparently had no problems using lethal force against good people."

"I wouldn't consider Snape as good people." Ron just had to add his own two pence here.

"They are our professors, Ronald. They have worked with us for years, teaching us and helping us grow. Thought Professor Snape may not be the nicest of them, he certainly has done his job adequately enough. Either way, he was hurt trying to protect Harry, and that puts him firmly on the good people page in my book."

"Fair point."

"Look, guys. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I lied to you. I'm sorry I fell in love with a dark lord. I'm sorry if you guys feel like I betrayed you. I just... I love her. And I know that's got to be hard to understand, I mean, for God's sake, she killed my family, you know. This is as crazy to me as it is to you. Emily isn't a good person, and I doubt she ever will be, but I'm going to do what I can to make her better."

"Make her better? Harry, people aren't like broken glasses. I can't just wave my wand and fix them, and neither can you. Emily Riddle is Lord Voldemort. The same person who would rather see me dead than alive, just because of my muggle parents, and you're in love with her. How am I supposed to feel about this?"

Harry could see the tears in his friend's eyes even through the black and white image. Her words were like a knife in his gut. Sure Emily had told him that she wouldn't harm his friends, but they didn't know that. They didn't know that she had already changed so much with him.

"She's changed a lot since then Hermione. Did you ever feel like Professor Hurst belittled you in class? Treated you unfairly because of you being a muggleborn? She's not the same person anymore. I know its hard for you guys to understand this, but you already know who I am with. She taught us for months, after all. Just because she went by a different face and name doesn't mean you don't know who she really is."

Harry took a deep breath and kept going. "It's true that she hates muggles, and I understand why she feels that way, even though I strongly disagree with her. I can't really tell you how she and I are going to find some sort of middle ground on the whole thing, but we will. Trust me on that. We're going to figure it out and when we come back, I'd really appreciate it if you guys could really meet her and get to know her."

"Come back? Where exactly did you two go?"

"That's a secret. Though we're not far away. But I plan on skipping next year at Hogwarts and will be back for our last year. The dairies Dobby gave you guys are ways that I can keep in touch with you both, though Emily did some crazy modifications to them so I can speak to you both face to face."

Hermione's image pursed her lips in thought. "I'll reserve any judgment until you come back then. But she had better keep you safe or I'll hex her so badly she'll wonder why anyone was scared of her in the first place."

Emily gave a bark of derisive laughter at that. Hermione heard it and sneered. The image made his friend look ugly, though he didn't want to comment on it. In truth, Harry found Emily's sneer unattractive too, so he counted himself fortunate that she rarely did it in his presence. He could hear Emily muttering behind him "Turn that little mudblood inside out if she dared to try." Harry figured he'd better cut the conversation short before anyone got any angrier. "Thanks for telling me about the professor's Hermione. I've got to go, but I'll keep in touch with you guy's, okay?"

"Make sure you do." Her face was still pursed and Harry figured that he'd be playing the referee between his female best friend and girlfriend for the foreseeable future. This was going to be unpleasant.

"See you later mate." Harry had almost forgotten that Ron was even part of the conversation as Hermione had pretty much taken over. He was giving Harry a wave and Harry smiled and returned it. "Tell your family I'm okay, and if you guys see Dumbledore, tell him I understand. Bye.'

Emily was still whispering to herself and Harry doubted any of it was nice. He walked up to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Relax, she's worried about me. Put yourself in her shoes. How would you like it if I went traipsing off with some dangerous person whom you know practically nothing about?"

"Hah, that's different. I'm madly in love with you. She isn't."

"But she does care. It should be enough for you to understand."

The anger seemed to fade from her at that and her face cleared a bit. "If I were her in her position, someone would end up dead for taking you away from me. I guess I can relate well enough."

"Thanks. Now, do you want to use this potion and remove the trace from me? Or should we just head straight to Paris so I can get you to relax." He smirked at her, something he knew she found to be cute.

"The trace can wait. Let's go."


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Not dead. Not really anyway. Did just cut a 1600 dollar paycheck though. ^_^ Super happy about that, though the constant 12 hour days are starting to wear me down. I gave a try at being more meticulous with my descriptions here, so if a couple of you can shoot me a PM or something on how my attempt worked, please do. I have about three or four directions that this story is gonna trot down, all of which have similar endings and almost completely similar events. It all depends on how the major plot twist goes later on in the book. Something I'm still hashing out. Once again, this series is gonna end happily, but you're gonna get some angst. No romantic relationship involving a homicidal 70 year old woman and a hot headed 16 year old is perfect, and if you know of one... point it out. (which we all know you probably can't do, as in the real world... that shit is hella weird and even more rare.)

Chapter 3

Harry had to admit he enjoyed his first twelve hours in Paris. Though to be fair, the last eleven hours and fifty minutes were spent in bed. Still, with the quick view he did manage to get of the city, he could only say that Paris was bright. She had apparated them both into an elaborate fountain of some sort. The decorative figures seemed to made of cast iron, and parts of it were even gold! The figures were naked from the chest up, fortunately for him Emily had brought them to one of the sides that held a male statue, so he wasn't called out for staring. She would've done that even if he hadn't been, just to get him to stutter embarrassingly.

"This is the Concorde fountain. It's heavily warded with notice me not charms and allows the magical population of France to enter the Muggle parts of the city. And no, I know what you're thinking, that's not real gold."

"Why did you bring us here? Why not just take us directly into the magical part?"

"I am, decidedly less than widely accepted her in France. While my face may be younger than the last time I appeared here, and several decades may have past, I would rather enter 'le quartier magique' in a more covert manner. Come."

Emily began wading her way through the fountain to the edge were she vaulted over. She offered him a hand and helped hoist him over as well. In front of them, Harry saw a palace. Not a castle, like Hogwarts, built upwards, but a palace that swept outwards.

"Please tell me we aren't planning an assassination on some French royalty."

"Don't be daft. I'd have done it alone, then come back for you if that were the case."

"Oh, well, glad you have such a scenario planned out."

"This is a royal palace though. Or at least it once was. A king in the eighteenth century commissioned this and another palace to be built. This one is now the Crillon Hotel. It has over a hundred rooms inside and to even stay a night would cost your friend Ron's father his entire weekly paycheck."

She placed a hand at the small of his back and steered him towards the palace. He didn't bother asking her what she was doing. If Emily wanted to jump his bones, obviously she would want to do it in the most resplendent place possible. And here, before them, was a royal palace. Even he could put two and two together. After all, it wasn't like she had to be subtle about having sex with him anymore. Now that they were no longer teacher and student, she could be more than vocal about her desires.

Entering the large structure through the spinning glass doors, they were met with a small room that seemed to serve no other purpose than being a entrance. He could see several statues, even as far as recognizing Mary Antoinette from his schooling in the muggle world. To the right stood a pair of glass doors that led to a dining area, and forwards, was a hallway that Emily strode down as if she owned the place. Her arm still wrapped around him, forcing him to keep up with her, he stumbled like an oaf for a moment before righting himself and matching her pace. They passed a stairwell and made it to a massive room that he assumed to be a reception area. Sure enough Emily walked right to the front and without a moment's hesitation began speaking to the man stationed there. Harry wasn't certain as to when she performed the imperius curse on him, but he did eventually notice the curse was there. He could see it in the man's unfocused eyes.

Getting the room seemed to be simple enough and Emily was quite forceful in pulling him into the nearby elevator. Once the metal doors closed, she almost slammed him bodily into the back of the lift and began snogging him hard. He still wasn't quite adapted to his surroundings, and her lips against his own were distracting him further. He eventually allowed himself to get swept away at her pace, and Harry awoke almost twelve hours later in the most ludicrously decorated bedroom he had ever laid eyes on.

Harry ran a hand through his messy hair, before getting up gently, as to not disturb his bed partner. It still felt odd to him, being able to watch Emily sleep. He supposed though her body looked healthy, the magical exhaustion she had experienced a couple days prior was still taking its toll. Going into her discarded clothing, he pulled out his trunk and enlarged it to find some clean clothes. Once fully dressed, he cast his mind out for something to do. Remembering the book Emily had acquired the day before, he once again began searching through her clothes before finding it.

The book was far smaller than he had first thought, more of a novella than anything, bound in leather, almost like... a diary. Opening up the pages he found that the words were indeed hand written and couldn't help but wonder what on earth the author had been involved with to have such intimate knowledge on soul bonds like the one he and Emily shared. Fortunately for him, the words were english, so he seated himself in a nearby chair before skimming through the brief introduction of what exactly the soul bond was.

 _Soul bonds are some of the most obscure and dangerous magics that I know of. My dearly beloved and I have been bound for seventy years now and still I find myself discovering new things about the nature of our connection. I can feel her, even when she is so very far aware, and she can do the same. In times of danger, I find myself able to apparate to her side with no idea to her location. She can calm my worst moments of rage with a whisper and I am powerless to hold onto it. It is a remarkable thing, though should we not truly love one another I shudder to think of the implications. For we are inexplicably drawn to each other, and should those urges not find release, I am certain madness would descend upon our minds. Once Lillian and I were separated by a great distance for seven months, and by the time I finally managed to find her again, our couplings lasted a fortnight._

 _The bond therefore seems to force several things. An intermental emotional link. One that the mind arts do not seem to stop, as I am quite the accomplished occlumens. This link is uncontrollable. Sometimes it is even obtrusive. In my youth I even used to wonder if my feeling were even my own._

 _Next there seems to be some magical component that allows us to find one another. Though it is similar to the emotional link, it is, in and of itself, unique. For I have never heard of a person apparating to another person, only a location. Such an event has never been heard of before._

 _The seems to be darker components as well. I had contracted dragon pox in my early fourties. Death was unavoidable. Through the link, my dear Lillian could feel my pain, but what I did not know was that death would find us both. For as I grew weaker so did she. In a last ditch effort to save her life I tried to sever our bond, but the attempt failed most painfully. I resigned both of our fates to end, but slowly, over the course of six months, the frail, decrepit body of mine that stood at death's door regained life. It was a miracle, and she and I once again found solace with intense physical intimacy. Therefore I surmise that should one of us die, the other will follow. I believe deep down, that it was our connection that gave me the strength live on, but as I have no proof of it, I can not be certain._

 _What seems to be the darkest part of our link is the control we hold over one another. Should one of us desire the other to do something, and wish with all of our heart that such a thing come to pass, the other is forced to do it. Even if such a thing is not said out loud. At first it was simple things, when Lillian was pregnant with our first child, I found myself bringing her the things she craved. I thought, at the time, that it was a subconscious aspect of the emotional link, and while I was not wrong, I did not expect the depths in which it was rooted._

 _Six years later, our two children were arguing while I was busy in my workshop, and for a brief moment I wished with all my heart that the noise would cease. And suddenly it had. Then I heard Lillian screaming, then came the unbridled terror. And it wasn't a normal scream or fear, but the kind only a mother could give. Later I found out that Lillian had been possessed to push Adam down into the cellar. The cellar steps were made of stone and his small body lie broken at the bottom. An act she had no control over, she had told me, sobbing, and I knew it to be true. For it had been my foolish desire that had caused the loss of our eldest. We lived far away from anyone who would question his disappearance, so I worried little of the repercussions of the accident. We buried him on our property and I'll never forget the lesson I learned that day. Our youngest, Lily, named for her mother, never spoke again afterwards. Witnessing the event scarred her terribly, and once she was of age, she vanished. I only hope she found healing and happiness._

 _Though one would think that the relationship between Lillian and I may become strained after that horrifying event, such a thing never happened. While we did drown in our grief together for many years, we stayed together. I had no such thoughts of walking away and she told me she hadn't thought of it either. It is the bond that forces us to be with one another, I know, but I can't help but be thankful for it now. I do not know how I would've made it through that difficult time without her by my side. We never had more children. How could we hold such a responsibility when our bond forces us to value each other more than anything else?_

 _The rest of this journal is a collection of various unique incidents in our lives that I have attributed to our connection. Also contained are various pages of manuscripts and other journals that pertain to any magics in regards to the soul. I hope that whoever reads this does not make the same mistakes I have, but even should you do so, at least know that with your partner by your side, you will persevere._

Harry closed the small book, taking all the new information in his head. While all the symptoms were almost a match, Harry found himself wondering if any of this would be of use to Emily. The two of them, after all, did not hold the kind of bond that this book mentioned. Not a true, two way bond. Would any of this information be relevant to the two of them?

He began to think hard about what he knew about Emily. She had told him that she hadn't read the book thoroughly, but she did know the book held information on soul bonds. He would wager that she read the same opening pages he had, and would know that the information wouldn't help her. That or she was curious about the other information that the book held. Harry was unaware of what the rest of the tome held, after all, and he doubted his ability to read it all before she woke. This, he decided, would be where the trust came into play. He would have to trust that she didn't plan on dissecting her soul any further. Though his true fear was something worse.

Deep down, Harry believed that Emily planned on altering the horcrux within him. She had told him before that the one inside his body was pathetically attached, the enchantments that normally anchored the shard of a soul had not been placed with her subsequent destruction. Instead the soul had to fuse itself inside of him over time. He knew one of the few things she truly feared was losing the love she held for him. It was situation he didn't like to think of as well, despite her reassurances that she probably wouldn't harm him if it did come to pass. Probably wasn't comforting enough.

He sighed, getting up to place the book back into her robes, dwelling on what ifs would get him no where. He would bring the subject up with her directly. Tell her in no uncertain terms did he want her making more horcruxes or fiddling with the one inside of him. While her soul was her own, and Harry recognized that he had little say on what she could or could not do with it, his own soul belonged to him, included the piece of hers attached to it. That was something she wouldn't try to dispute. He was well aware that, in her mind at least, she saw her horcrux, that small piece of her very soul, as his. She romanticized its existence, claiming fate and prophecy tied them together with its creation. She was a nut.

Slowly pulling himself from the floor, Harry decided to idle away his time looking into the courtyard outside one of the windows. He debated going back to bed, but was loathe to wake Emily, even on accident. If she was asleep, then her body needed the rest and he refused to be a reason that her recovery was delayed. Letting his mind wander, it wasn't much later that he heard Emily stirring a few feet away. Turning his gaze from the window to the bed, his eyes locked onto hers. The muted red irises never failed to take his breath away. Though to be fair, in the past it had normally been crippling fear crushing his lungs, but now it was different. Now it was her beauty. Though Emily would probably never be a model, she was undeniably pretty. Her face alone, was eye catching in the best way. Prominent facial structure, one could easily see all the angles her face had. And while she was able to use those features to seem austere, when you put them together with her pale face, and unusually dark pink lips, it was... alluring more than anything else. He rarely ever saw her eyes more than halfway open, unless she was angry, so she always seemed to be giving him a smoldering look. It helped that her eyes could almost been seen as dying embers. Framing the entire image was her raven locks that dipped just below her cream colored shoulders.

"I need to sleep more often."

The comment caught him off guard, and it took several moments longer for him to comprehend her words and reply.

"Why is that?"

"Because I think I can get used to waking up to you. And not just in bed. When I opened my eyes a few seconds ago to see you looking out of the window, the sight was beautiful. The light flatters you at that angle, though I find myself loving all the angles you have."

"Funny you should say that. I found myself thinking something similar just a moment ago."

"Oh, do tell?"

"Not a chance. Your ego is already a problem."

"As long as we are both aware that its rightly deserved, then I can accept it being problematic."

Harry smiled at her. As odd as it seemed, her blatant self confidence/borderline arrogance and cocky attitude was another thing he found incredibly attractive. To be fair though, as she said, it was rightly deserved, which probably was why he liked it.

"I read a bit of that book you picked up the other day." While he said this, he kept an eye on her face, holding on to a small sliver of hope that her impassible poker face might waver, giving him an idea as to what she was planning. His hopes were in vain. No change was made from his statement, so he would have to outright ask.

"That book seems to primarily focus on two way bonds. I don't see it being of any help to us, seeing as our bond is probably more than unique. Like, only we have ever had one like it."

"It may or may not. But its more information on the subject, so I wish to read it."

"What exactly are you looking for? What more do you plan on doing with your soul, Emily?"

"Harry, I've already told you, I want to know how the nature of our bond may effect you."

"Enough of that, Emily. You and I both know that you have more of a reason than that." Which, in all honesty, he didn't. It was more than possible that the only thing she was concerned with was his safety, but he had a hunch that Emily was withholding something from him.

She didn't answer him immediately after, so he knew that his gut feeling had been spot on, or she was thinking hard of a way to reassure him. Either way, whatever came out of her mouth next would more than likely be the truth.

"I do plan on making a final horcrux. I wish to know how that will effect what we have together."

So she did plan on making another horcrux. Coming to terms with that wasn't very difficult, but knowing that she planned on commiting murder for her own desires rankled him. She had detailed the process to him well enough. Splitting one's soul had to be done through an act most evil. Murder was one of the few acts that could accomplish that. She told him their were others, but she did not expand upon the topic, and he didn't ask.

"So who do you plan on killing to make it? Going to find a nice muggle family to wipe out, or are you going to hunt down more people who oppose your ideas?" His tone wasn't accusatory, he made sure to keep it even. The words sounded biting, but he spoke them as though he were reading a list, monotonously.

"Harry, you and I are going to be traveling the world. I have made countless enemies throughout my life. I'm sure we are going to run into someone who wants me dead. I'll commit the necessary acts when the opportunity arises. I won't be harming anyone innocent to do it, I promise."

He didn't press for further details. Splitting her soul was an easy task for her, she had told him once. She inherently enjoyed killing, getting an adrenaline rush each time she took a life. All types of killing would be enough for her to split her soul, even self defense. Because at the end of the day, Emily Riddle was an evil woman, he reminded himself. She would change for no one, despite her willingness to hold back for him. He just had to live with that.

Emily cursed inwardly when Harry started asking her about that damned book. She should have charmed it closed. He was curious, and if she could not afford anything, it was him wondering about what soul magics she planned on doing in the future.

She was proud of him, despite her own misgivings. His deductions, though vague, were spot on. He knew something was underfoot. Probably spending too much time with her, she would have to be more , she was more than happy to lead his thoughts down a different path. She would rather him assume she desired to create another horcrux. Would have been more accepting of him assuming that she wanted to change the one inside of him, rather than him knowing her true objective.

Emily was fully aware that the book was about mutual bonds, and not the bastardized one the two of them shared. She wished to know more about the forementioned bonds, for she planned on making theirs the same. Knowing Harry Potter loved her and desired to stay with her of his own volition was wonderful, but she needed something a little more concrete than his heart. And there was no other way more complete than doing to him what she had done to herself. Harry Potter was going to commit a murder, enjoy it and not feel regret. Then she would take the piece of his soul that was fractured by the act and place it within her own body. The only problem was how to incite him to do step one.

She had been mulling the idea around for months, to be honest. He was frail and weak compared to her, and even if she were to make him as powerful as herself... she had met her demise eventually. It was only due to her horcruxes that she survived, and she planned on making those same contingency plans for him. It was only later that she started toying with the idea of using her own body as the vessel. Which is when she came across problems regarding step two. A normally impossible idea, seeing as her body was a magical version of a play-dough doll. So much of her body was purely magic, that there was little to no place to attach a foreign soul inside of it. It was tailor made for her own soul, and wouldn't latch on to much else. She did, however have some things in her favor.

One being, that of the four components that made up her body, one of them just so happened to be Harry's blood. If her body had any chance of holding onto a soul fragment other than her own, it would have been between her father's, Wormtail's, or Harry's, and with the former two being dead, Harry's was the only one who stood a chance. But his blood was not enough. No, she needed actual flesh, and Wormtail's would not suffice. It would have to be her lover's, or someone one who shared his blood. Leaving her with scant few options. She would have to perform a ritual to replace one of the core ingredients of her body; possible, but annoying. The easiest option was the least appealing. Grave robbing the resting place of his parents and performing the ritual to replace Wormtail's flesh with his mother or father's.

The reason this appealed to her the least was the high chance of the process ending in failure. It had been fourteen years since she killed his parents, and their bodies were more than likely rotted beyond conventional use.

Option two, was the most appealing, though more difficult, but the chance of success was higher than the first. Going back to Little Whinging and murdering his aunt and cousin. She planned on murdering them either way, and their bodies were in, well not good condition, but they were alive. She detested the idea of using their filthy muggle flesh to recreate her own, but she knew all bodies were the same, wizard or muggle. The only difference was that magic took care of the body better. Still, at least his useless aunt and cousin would be of use to him for once.

The reason why this option was difficult was because it meant scarpering back into Britain, and she was certain Dumbledore had people in place to watch Harry's relatives. Though the blood wards should have been dismantled when Harry made the decision to come with her out of the country, thusly no longer calling Privet Drive his home, there were other wards that she would have to force her way through. The last thing she wanted was another altercation with that old coot only a couple of days after the previous one.

The final option felt outright abhorrent to her. But it was the fastest and there was no chance at all of failure. Taking it from the source... who was brooding in a chair mere feet from her. Even the thought of cleaving off one of her lover's limbs churned her stomach. Despite how simple it would be to regrow the body part. A stunning charm and he would wake up a day later none the wiser. She could make it so very simple, pass it off as him stumbling in the shower, whacking his head and being out for a day. He would never know of the horror she did to him.

No need to rush anything. They were days into their year long 'vacation', and she had more time to think on the matter. She would shelve the entire plan for now. But shelving it now just meant he would be vulnerable for longer.

Emily pulled herself up from the warmth of the bed, and strode to her robe at the floor. She was unabashed by her own nudity, but she enjoyed how Harry's eyes snapped from the window to her body in an instant. Teenagers and their hormones. Fishing through the clothing until her hand touched glass, she pulled out the tiny potion and tossed it to him. His reflexes did not disappoint and he snatched it out of the air.

"Oh? Are we doing this now, then?"

"No, I just wanted to watch you hold it for a bit." She gave him a blank sidelong look. "Of course we are doing it now. Down it, then take off your shirt and get on the bed. Lie on your front."

He rolled his eyes at her sass with a smile, before uncorking the small bottle and gulping the small mouthful down. "Ugh, tastes awful."

"Hence why I told you to down it, not sip it for tea. Assume the position." The last line came out with a smirk. He pulled his jumper over his head and plopped onto the bed. She grabbed his ankle and gave him a light shove that had his body sliding over the surface, stopping perfectly so that he looked as though he had climbed in properly, the sheets though, had been pushed all the way off.

She sat herself on his arse, her knees firmly pressed against his ribs. It would take anywhere from two to ten minutes for the potion to make the trace visible on his skin. She idled the time away by running her fingers over the contours of his back, sometime with some pressure, others barely more than a gentle caress. She knew her hands were probably making his position uncomfortable, seeing as his crotch was facing the bed and therefore had little room for... growth. The impromptu massage aroused her after a few moments and she found herself pressing her still naked body against his back, kissing and sucking on his neck. She would have to make this quick, she now wanted to do other things.

Fortune favored her as light blue lines started forming on his back before even three minutes had passed, and she gripped her wand and began unwinding the trace from his body. The entire thing was gone before five minutes had passed and she wasted no time in flipping him over to get what she wanted from him. The blazing green eyes that met hers and the force of his tongue told her he was just as desperate.

Their lovemaking was fierce and quick, and soon Emily was pulling herself off of him, slipping back into her professor mode as though she had never left Hogwarts.

"Alright Harry, probably the main focus of our trip is get you up to par with any NEWT level wizard. I plan on doing that and more. We may as well start off in a subject we both are fairly lacking at, Transfiguration."

"Why do I find it hard to believe that you are lacking skill in Transfiguration."

"Believe what you will, but there are actually two people in Britain who surpass my abilities in this branch of magic. Dumbledore and McGonagall both are more skillful than I."

"So two people being better than you in an entire country makes you somehow lacking. Such a tall pedestal you stand on."

"All the better for me to see those down below. Focus. Now, lets begin."

Before she could sink into the lecture, Harry twisted his torso to stretch his back, and Emily noticed a thin line of red. She moved quickly forward, not bothering with words, grabbing his arm and painfully wrenching him down into the bed again on his stomach.

"Shit, Emily what the bloody hell was that for."

"You have something else inside of you."

At her words he started struggling, as though he wanted to get up and look at it, but she held him firm and started breaking the complex enchantments that were plastered over his back. She didn't know what they were, but she knew they were old. And while they may not be deadly now, the fact that they were there in the first place was unacceptable.

She stayed on him for almost an hour this time. It had seemed that each time one spell was broken and gone, another appeared in its place. By the time she was done, and she hoped she was, as she had been looking at his skin for over five minutes and it remained unmarked, she could see bruises forming from his side where her knees were locked.

Gently pulling herself off of him, earning a gasp from him when the pressure on his body receded, she began healing his bruises. "Six." She said. "There were six diffferent charms on your body, all connected to something back in Britain. Don't ask what their intended use was, I do not know."

"Try and be a little more gentle next time. I was convinced you had pulled my arm out of socket."

"Sorry. I panicked at seeing something that wasn't supposed to be there. Its gone now, so no reason to fret."

Harry didn't comment on the enchantments, letting a few moments pass in silence before bringing up what they had been discussing before that. Emily allowed herself to be swept to their previous subject.

What followed was a two hour long, detailed, theory based lecture on human and self transfiguration. She made sure to to encourage Harry to ask questions whenever he felt the need and the end result was more akin to a conversation, than a monologue. Harry frequently asked for her to expand on select bits with more detail and he seemed to soak it all up like a sponge. The lecture ended with her asking him to transfigure three of her fingers into the heads of a spoon, fork, and butter knife. The magic portion took some time, as Harry was always wary of practicing magic on her, but after she assured him that she could reverse anything he did to her, he began. His first attempts were pretty terrible, and on the twelfth try she snaked her free hand to his face to flick his forehead, none to gently.

"Your wand movements and the incantation are fine. That's the easiest part of magic. Its also the least important. Knuckle down and focus. Concentrate on my fingers intensely, channel what you want into your willpower and force the change to happen. Stop pussyfooting around."

It wasn't the most gentle of rebukes, but his following attempt was almost perfect. She knew he had the ability to concentrate. She had seen him catch a snitch before, after all and she had taught him Occlumency. He was able to block out everything and hone in on what he needed. Sometimes he just needed a more forceful shove in that direction. Other than the knife having point instead of a rounded edge and the fork being completely straight, it was perfect. He didn't quite focus on the details well enough. No matter, his following spell to restore her fingers was on point, and she congratulated him on it. Not very hard to focus on those details, considering how intimate he was with her hands. And various other parts of her body.

"Perfect, remember to keep that intense focus on you whenever you are spell casting, and we will cruise through learning your core subjects in a matter of weeks."

"Weeks? Seems pretty fast. If it can be done so quickly then why don't they speed things at Hogwarts."

"You're a sharp student, Harry, and I am an exceptional teacher. While the majority of the Hogwarts staff are acceptable, only a select few would I consider exceptional. But in truth, it's the diverse class of students who really force things to go at a snails pace. I'm sure you know of many of your classmates who struggle, and they are the reason things go very slowly. They can not be allowed to simply fall behind, as it were, so the learning is set to their pace." She said the last bit with a roll of her eyes, letting him know she thought it was ridiculous.

"Also keep in mind that I am a rather, harsh, taskmaster. I'll be drilling information into you at a rather fast rate. The one on one time we have together helps. I can focus all my attention on you."

He nodded half heartedly at her and she knew that somewhere during her explanation his mind had wandered. "I don't answer your questions to hear myself speak, you know. Listen to me when you ask the question at the very least."

"Ah, sorry. I guess my head did kind of wander for a moment. Just thinking about those other spells. Who do you think cast them?"

"Dumbledore probably. Most likely they were spells to look after you in some way. Monitoring charms and such."

"If Dumbledore had those on me, then why not track me down personally."

"Because its highly unlikely it was linked to your location. Some could have been monitoring your emotions or your level of pain. Others could be attuned to your physical well being, looking for illnesses and such."

"Oh," It was all he said before drifting off into thought.

"Let's end the class time here. I doubt you can learn more with your head in the clouds."

Harry gave her a glare, but there was no heat behind it. "Sorry. Its just there is so much I don't know about magic, so when I start wondering about things, I guess I go into some heavy thinking."

Emily smiled at him, "We are working through your lack of knowledge now. Once we fill in the blanks, maybe the things you're pondering will come to you more easily." She didn't bother asking him what he was thinking about. She was just as curious, but without more information, they would likely never know.

Several hundred miles away, in a great castle, an elderly man was panicking when he entered his office to see six different, shiny instruments lying motionless on various shelves and tables. For the first thought that entered his mind was horrifying. Harry Potter was dead.

A/N: gonna go ahead and say the last sentence is simply the ending of the chapter. No one is gonna call off the search party for Harry Potter or any other drastic stuff. Old Albus is jumping to conclusions is all. Wishing you guys the best. I promise to get another chapter out by Christmas, come hell or high water.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: HAPPY HOLIDAYS! Figured I'd stick my hand into some HP lore. Or steal it from the Bible. Yea, I totally did. Not gonna go deep into this thing guys, its a little side story. It begins and ends here, and may have some references while they are in Egypt. While I am very religious, I won't shove my beliefs down your throats. So don't think this is gonna turn into Bible study or anything.

Chapter 4

Albus Dumbledore's heart had frozen for the briefest of moments before the snide voice of Phineas Nigelius sounded throughout the room.

"Relax Headmaster. Your little toys stopped in sequence, not all together. The boy is alive, your enchantments have merely been removed."

Albus allowed his entire body to sag in relief. Righting himself with great effort he made his way to the chair seated behind his desk. Sitting down with a pained sigh he gazed towards the many portraits of those who had come before him.

"I am afraid I can't take much more of these stressful surprises. A man of my age isn't well equipped to deal with them."

"A man of your age isn't equipped to deal with a fraction of the things you deal with on a regular basis. That hasn't stopped you before." This was delivered by a stern and overbearing looking woman with a purple frock. "You stretch yourself further than any other headmaster this school has ever seen. I doubt I see you slowing down, you pull every single political problem Britain sees onto your plate and you outright refuse positions in the government where you can actually do something about them."

"My place is here."

This simple statement from Albus shut down any rebuttals. Every portrait in the room knew the man to be able to assume any position in the magical world he wished. But the man refused, only accepting the most passive of roles, such as his current status of being Supreme Mugwump in the ICW. Few had questioned him as to why and the few that did never got the answers that they were searching for.

"Phineas, did you notice any distinct patterns of any of my toys, as I believe you called them?"

"Yes all six began showing unusual behavior. Most notable being the two over there." It was hard to determine the location in which a portrait nods, but Albus was experienced in such matters. "That one's smoke gain a pinkish tint and the other followed shortly after with a trembling base. Each odd behavior was subsequent to the last's."

"How wonderful." Albus couldn't help but smile. A pink hue in the smoke and a trembling base were signs of detection. Not many things could detect his spells. And since they came one after the other, which made sense as Albus had placed them on top of one another, he knew what had discovered them.

A Maledict draught. This was truly a wonderful turn of events. A difficult potion to brew and it was more than regulated in the magical community. All he had to do was assign one of the members of the Order of the Phoenix to go to the ministry and... help themselves to the records there. They could locate the cities in which the potion was bought, and with how rare it sales were, outside the gross purchases of institutions such as St. Mungos, he would get a lead as to their location.

Though Albus did mourn the loss of his ability to know of Harry's safety, he resigned himself to trusting that Voldemort would do all in her power to keep him safe. After all, his devices only gave him the vaguest information on the boys life, so the loss wasn't too great. He couldn't help but chuckle to himself, realizing that for perhaps the first time in her entire life, Emily was being fully trusted with the care of another human being. The fact that the trust was coming from himself made the situation even more ridiculous.

He would have to get Nymphadora or Kingsley onto this as soon as he could. Because at the end of the day, Albus knew that Emily was incapable of looking after someone other than herself. Despite how much she might desire to do so.

Emily was seated in the window of the suite she shared with her lover. She absent mindedly stirred the steaming cup of tea. Though to merely refer to the beverage's holder as a cup did not do it justice. It was a fine piece of delicate china and Emily admitted to studying the designs around its edge at her leisure. They would have to leave soon. She was well aware she was pressing her luck by staying here for so long. It was hard for her to admit that this bit of bliss would have to come to an end.

Things had not been helped by Harry's suggestion to frolic an entire day away to go 'sight-seeing'. Emily had readily agreed to show him around, but after the first half of the day, Harry had informed her that he was less interested in the magical sights she had been showing him and was more curious about the muggle ones. She had, of course immediately shut the idea down. She had no interested in traipsing about with muggle filth. Harry hadn't pressed her on that point, but he did force her hand when he exclaimed he would go on his own and let her stay at the hotel.

She wanted to veto that suggestion as well, but she was more than well aware how he would take it. Controlling. She'd be in the doghouse over that one, for sure. Once left with the two choices presented, Emily spent little time in choosing. Either go with him and keep him safe or stay and be overcome with worry. The decision had been easy, though she had grumbled to herself intermittently for the rest of the day.

It was worth it, she supposed. While Emily would never admit to enjoying time spent with muggles, she did enjoy Harry's happiness at seeing the muggle world.

"Why do you find this so amazing, Harry?"

His face fell at her words and he tilted his head to the side. "I guess I spent so many years inside of a cupboard that its hard to believe the world's so large." His smile had faded and she knew that his mood had been somewhat soured.

Of course he would be enraptured by this. The majority of his early life was spent inside a twenty four square foot hole in the wall. It was then that she finalized her plan in regards to the replacement of the flesh that made up her body. His aunt would pay the price for her neglect of the nephew that was her responsibility.

She took him to see all of the staple sights, such as the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame. Or rather he told a muggle cabbie the location he wished to go and her use of a curse ensured they arrived.

She flat out refused his request to visit Disneyland, however.

"Honestly, Harry, how can you even want to go to the 'most magical place on earth'. That they even dare to claim such a foolish notion when they hold no ability over the power of magic at all is disgusting. It's vanity at its finest. I refuse to go."

He stopped asking when it became apparent that she truly did abhor the idea what muggles referred to as 'magical'. She had met him halfway already and he was loathe to press the point.

Finally after having been located in France for just over two weeks, she told him it was time to go.

"We are leaving tomorrow morning."

"Okay."

While she had not expected him to balk at leaving, she was taken back by his lack of inquisitiveness. Normally his curiosity would have him try and pry even the smallest hint of her plans, but he seemed ready and willing to coast along at her pace. Something she was rather put out by, as she normally enjoyed his attempts to glean information from her.

"We're going to Africa."

He perked up at that, like she knew he would. While France was foreign to him, it was still European, and therefore held less cultural differences. Africa on the other hand would hold many more things he had never experienced.

"Where?"

"Africa, you twit. Are you deaf?" She smiled, being deliberately dense to watch his frustration.

"No, I got that. I meant where IN Africa."

"Egypt, the first and last great magical civilization."

"Oh." She watched his eyebrows raise questioningly. "Magical civilization? How so?"

"What I meant by that was that the vast majority of the populace was magical. Well, not the populace per se, but the civilians."

"You have me even more lost, whats the difference?"

"To give you the entire story will take a while. Its a tale everyone knows, even billions of muggles are aware."

"We have time don't we. Staying until the morning you said, right?"

Emily shrugged her shoulders. The story was far more publicized in the muggle world, indeed, few magical children were even told it and seeing as Harry was raised there, he would probably catch on soon enough.

"For all intents and purposes this is the story of the first Halfblood. The entirety of the ancient Egyptian civilization was magical, and used such magics to create a utopia for themselves. Things went well for hundreds of years until a few hundred muggles invaded the city. They were quickly subdued of course, a city with thousands of witches and wizards routed the attack well enough. The muggles who survived, which were most of them, were then enslaved to do manual labor. Something the Egyptians did not need, thanks to their use of magic, but they refused to allow their attackers to leave. Skip ahead a couple hundred years and the slave population has grown enormously. Some foolish wizards impregnated some of the muggles along the way, but knowing what might be produced, the potential problems were dealt with when they arose."

"One expecting mother proved to not be entirely an imbecile, and once she found that she was pregnant, fled into the uninhabitable wasteland surrounding Egypt. She returned eight months later and died on the river bank of the Nile. Her newly born child cried into the empty night. The next morning, the Pharaoh's own daughter heard the crying babe and pulled it from the cold arms of its mother."

"Hold on a tic." Harry interrupted her. "Are we talking about Moses right now?" Though Harry had never put much thought into the rare Sundays where the Dursley family took him to church, even he knew of the story of Moses.

"See, I told you, even muggles know the story, far better than our people anyway. Yes, this is the story of Moses. Raised in the Pharaoh's family he was loved and cherished, and treated far better than his biological mother's race. He was never trained in the magical arts however, a wise choice considering what he became in the end."

Harry held up a hand to stop her. "Stop. You're making it sound like he was the bad guy. He freed his people from enslavement. How on earth can he be the bad one here."

"Because he used terrible dark magic and destroyed the Egyptian civilization. Now hush and I will get there. Eventually he saw a slaver punishing a Jew, the name for his people by the way, and he struck the slaver down. Now a wanted man, he took a leaf out of his mother's book and fled to the wastelands. He would not have survived had he not had magic. This is where the muggle stories and our stories differ. The muggles say he found Gubrathean fire, or a burning bush that spoke to him and there he met an angel of the almighty God, and was told he would save his people. In our story he climbed a tall peak and stole the Gubrathean fire from the angel and with many years of studying its magical properties, learned things about magic that no man had ever known."

"He returned to Egypt and met with the new Pharaoh, who considered Moses a brother. He was more than willing to welcome the man home, but Moses refused and demanded the release of his people. The Pharaoh denied him and Moses dueled two of the Pharaoh's most powerful wizards. The pharaoh's wizards summoned poisonous serpents to strike Moses down, but Moses himself summoned a serpent so large and powerful that it devoured the other two and won him the duel. The pharaoh refuse Moses request once again, knowing that if he allowed the thousands of Jews out into the desert they would suffer and perish."

"I won't bother rehashing the muggle version of the story. You can pick up a bible later, if you are curious. We'll stick with the information that the magical world knows. Moses then performed terrible magic against all of Egypt, sometimes even including the Jews. He transfigured all of the Nile into blood. He then summoned hordes of frogs to plague the city. He then transfigured the dust on the ground into lice. Finally after summoning a swarm of flies to attack the Egyptian's and their livestock, the Pharaoh relented. Moses canceled all of the magic and began to prepare his people to leave. But the Pharaoh, who had caved into Moses demands, hardened his heart and once again refused to allow them to leave."

"So Moses struck again, deseasing all the animals and then made boils appear on everyone's flesh. Moses finally decided to show pity and told the Pharaoh to find shelter for his people and livestock and then summoned a hailstorm that decimated the land with ice and lightning. When it was done, Moses told the Pharaoh and his people to bow before him, but they refused. Moses was angered and once again summoned a swarm of animals. This time it was locust and they covered everything and devoured all that the storm had not destroyed. When the locusts all died Moses covered the city in darkness for three straight days. All of these acts were magic that had never been seen before. Finally Moses enacted a curse that killed every single first born in the entire city, animal and man, Jew and Egyptian. The only way to avoid the curse was a blood ward placed on the door of a family's home."

"The pharaoh, grieving his son and fearing himself to be next, banished Moses and all of his people. Let the all die in the desert, he thought. But grief only lasts for so long, and then the anger sets in. He roused his armies to wipe out the Jews altogether only to find an incredible sight when they closed the distance. They saw that Moses had split the entire Red Sea, and his people were making their way to the other side. Pharaoh gave the order to follow and the entire army entered between the walls of water. Unfortunately they did not arrive fast enough as when the last of his people made it to shore, Moses canceled his enchantment and the entire Egyptian army was lost."

"Well that got dark."

"Its not a bedtime story, that's certain."

She watched him steeple his fingers and knew he was mentally hashing something out. "So the muggles believe that everything he did were acts of God? And we believe he was a dark wizard, or something?"

"There are many witches and wizards who believe the muggle story. I don't really blame them after all, considering some of the magical feats that were performed were incredible. Still, while I may not be able to enact a curse that targets a everyone's first born child, I find myself reasonably confident I can perform all the other magic he did. Sometimes it easier for people to believe in God than to believe in what seems impossible."

"And you? Do believe in God?"

Emily couldn't help but laugh. She knew what he was getting at. He wanted to know if she believed that in either this life or after, if someone would ever be able to hold her accountable for the acts she committed. "Perhaps. If I did, I would certainly do all I could to avoid meeting him and I suppose that begins with not dying." She let the thought end there, knowing he would not press further. After all, she could sense him turning his thoughts over in his head, a pleasant buzzing in the back of her mind, and she knew that he was asking himself the same question he asked her.

"Mind you, though, the Pharaoh was right. Even the muggles know that the Jews wandered for decades before making it out of the barren desert, suffering and dying all the while."

She could practically feel him forcing the thoughts from his mind, choosing to disregard them and come back to them at a later time. The knowledge he had gathered over their conversation was vast, likely he would have to sift through it for a few days.

"So, Egypt. What's the main purpose for going there?"

"Partly to educate you on the real history of magic. The other is to gather some specific ingredients for potion making. I'm sure you are aware that bones can be used in rituals of the body. I plan on gather some rather, ancient ingredients."

"What are you brewing. Last time I saw a potion with bones in it, well, you were there."

"I was. I have no intention of doing something like that again however. No ancient bones such as the Egyptians can be used in several potions, most importantly in one that will keep a person alive even on the brink of death. Its similar, I suppose, to unicorn blood, just without the curse. However, it is far easier to obtain unicorn blood."

"So we are gathering ingredients for this potion? What do you need it for?"

"Its for you, actually. I'll brew the potion for you and should we ever find ourselves in a spot of real trouble I want you to hunker down under your invisibilty cloak and down the potion. Seeing as you and I both know you won't be able to stay under your cloak if I am in danger, at least I will have the knowledge that nothing short of the killing curse will be able to kill you."

"What if someone blows my head off, or something like that?"

"Someone could impact your face with a blasting curse, and I would still have the time I need to take care of the situation and fix you up. Though you'd be out of the count for days, if not weeks."

"Horrifying, but good to know. Do you think we'll run into any trouble in Egypt?"

"Doubtful. I've broken into many of these tombs already, it will be fine."

Leaving France was more complicated than getting there. Emily explained that she wanted to be certain that no one from Britain was on their trail, so they would leave the Paris city limits and then apparate to a place Emily could get her hands on an international portkey. Emily hailed them a cab, once again speaking in rapid French to the muggle driver and Harry was once again stunned how she was capable of interacting with muggles so easily given her distaste for them. Inside the vehicle he brought it up.

"So how is it you can hate muggles, but you can interact with them without showing it?"

Emily stared at him and he could tell she was thinking on how to answer him. "Well Harry, let me ask you a question. Do you hate spiders?"

"Er, no, not really. Spiders were some of the only company I had when I was growing up, so I guess you could say I have a soft spot for them. Except the ten foot tall Acromantulas that try to eat me. I'm not really a fan of them."

"Hm, poor choice of creature. Roaches then? How do you feel about them?"

"Well, they're disgusting, so, I can safely say I dislike them."

"Would you also say you avoid them at all costs?"

"Yes."

"And if you come across one in your home, I assume you would try and kill it, yes?"

"Well, yea."

"Then you can understand my feeling on muggles. They are roaches. Disgusting creatures, and if one of them is in my way, I remove them. But I won't go out of my way to commit a genocide however. They have their place in the world, as do all the other... pests. This driver here is proving himself useful to me after all, granted though I have him imperiused."

"So, you don't like them, but they have uses."

"Succinctly, yes."

"Just so you are aw,are, Harry, its not like when I am talking to a muggle, I am making pleasant chatter. I had already cast the imperius curse on him while we were approaching. The words were just detailed instructions."

"Oh." He had, it seemed, been wrong in his hopes that Emily might be able to coexist with muggles. He needed to learn French. "Can you teach me the languages you can speak? Is there a spell for it or something?"

"No, there is no spell to learn a language. Many times wizards have tried to make a translation charm, but it never works. The reason being that there is so much more to a language than words. Posture, vocal impressions, facial expressions, are all used in conjunction to language when people communicate and any spell crafted to convey words through the language barrier always seems to fall short. After more than a few seconds, the charm fails all together, as the intent of the spell itself is not realized."

"Aren't all those other things universal though? Everyone uses all of those things regardless of what language they speak."

"You have a point, I suppose. Maybe the reason the spell fails is due to not being applied to anything other than speech. I will toy with the idea for a bit, but don't hold your hopes high. I doubt I will make much headway in this. Spell creation was never my biggest strength, I was more geared towards practical knowledge as opposed to the theory crafting."

"So what your saying is I have to learn the old fashioned way."

"Yes, unless you wish to do it the way I did it."

"Hah, I'm almost afraid of asking."

"Its something I didn't go into depth upon when I told you my history. I would use Legilemency on muggles when I was younger. I would pull their memories of their childhood from their brains with my wand and then retreat into those memories for several days. Through their earliest thoughts and memories I would learn each language of every country I visited. The process was far easier than learning it the 'old fashioned way' as you called it."

"Okay, I follow you. Sounds like a pretty safe strategy all around."

"Yes, one hundred percent safe... for you anyway. Not for the muggle, however. Muggles aren't like us Harry. Our innate magic allows us to have our memories removed from our heads without breaking anything inside our brains. Muggles can't do that. Pulling out their memories causes severe damage to their minds. Best case scenario, severe mental handicaps. Worst case, death."

"So that's a big no then. What about your memories of their memories... can you share those?

"I could, but taking a memory of a memory makes it rubbish. Things get distorted and speech sounds like gibberish. It like taking a photograph of a photograph, things get smaller, grainier, harder to make out. Some of it may be useful to you, but most of it will not."

"Can you teach me then?"

"I can certainly try, but my fundamental knowledge of languages other than English is lacking. I can speak them, but I don't really understand the finer points."

"Nice, finally found something you can't teach me."

She shoved him playfully into the door. "I am far from a perfect being, I realize that. Despite what I may tell myself sometimes, I do err. I just do it far less than most others."

He smiled at her, happy to enjoy the moment they were having. Soon they had left the city limits and Emily had the driver pull over, before they got out and sent the man back on his way. Taking the hand that Emily offered him, he held on tightly as she spun on the spot and with a loud crack, they vanished.

A/N: So what do you guys think of the bastardized Moses story? ^_^ I ended up liking how things turned out. Works gonna start slowing back down in like 3 weeks, so we are almost back to the time where I can update all the time. Have a merry friggin Christmas, turkeys. Try and enjoy your time with your loved ones. (At least Harry and Emily will be together for all the Holidays this year. ^_^)


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Works mostly done with, as far as excessive amounts of overtime. Yay. Happy to get back to the grind, as it were. I have a lot of things I want to write, from Twilight to Rick Riordan, but those things won't be started until I finish book 2 of Harry and Emily's misadventures. And even when we get to the last two books, they will remain the priority. Tried to upload this hours ago through my phones 4G, but Straight Talk's being... annoying.

Chapter 5

Egypt was sweltering. This was to be expected, seeing as it was June. Emily had scheduled their portkey to bring them to the country at around noon, and the sun at its zenith was unforgiving. Emily turned to look at him, saying "Welcome to the desert, Harry."

Harry had assumed that he had felt heat before. He now knew better. No heat at Privet Dr. had ever amounted to this level of discomfort for him before. Not only was it hot, it was also ridiculously bright, and there were woefully few clouds in the sky to hope for any shade. Harry was later ashamed at the fact he didn't even think of casting a cooling charm. Fortunately for him, Emily only let him suffer for about three minutes before casting one on him and herself. "Can't have you dying of heatstroke out here. It happens to tourists more often than I'm comfortable with, considering you're with me."

"Thanks. Completely blanked on that one." The immediate relief from the scorching sun was more than welcome for Harry. "Where to first?"

"Don't be so eager, Harry. The tomb raiding will take place another day. We'll be taking the rest of today to brush you up on your history."

"Great, more lessons."

"A necessary evil, I'm afraid. There won't be too much of these. I plan on giving you just the information you need for your NEWTS, and that's it."

"Thanks, I guess. And why do I care about a History NEWT? Because I'm pretty certain I don't."

Emily leveled a smirk at him and he knew her answer before she spoke. "Its not a matter of what you care about, Harry. Its about my ability to prepare to pass all of your NEWTs in one year's time."

"Can my schooling like NOT, be dictated by your ego?"

"No."

Harry gave a dry bark of laughter and rolled his eyes. "Of course not, why did I even bother asking. Well lets get it over with then."

The rest of the evening was dictated by a fairly boring and base lecture of ancient magical society that was far more boring than the story she had told him the day before. When he asked her if the story he heard previously would be part of his tests, she told him she strongly doubted it. It was one of the many parts of magical history that everyone wanted swept under the rug. It was why he had never heard of it before.

When the sun set the temperature dropped off quickly. It was only a couple hours after sunset that Harry was overcome by an uncomfortable chill. "Damn, it chilly now."

"Yes, it cools off quick here. I'm not too much of a fan of it either."

"Can you even feel it?"

"Of course I can, why one earth wouldn't I?"

"Well you're always talking about how your body isn't affected by things, so I was curious."

"Mental things, yes. And while my body my be... physically resilient, I do still feel. Something you confirmed for me on the first night of my new body's existence."

"What are you talking about?"

She gave Harry a dark look before responding, "You bit my tongue, you fucking ass."

This comment sent him spluttering, "Oh, hell no. You can't give me flack for that. As far as I was concerned that night, we wanted each other dead, and in less a minute of your, completely naked, resurrection you're shoving your tongue down my throat. Which felt like you were stabbing me in the forehead with a butter knife, might I add. My biting you was your own comeuppance, and completely not my fault."

"Ugh, such a man, telling a woman its her own fault that her first time hurt."

She had completely lost him now. His jaw dropped at this and he could only reply exasperatedly with, "What?"

Once again she flashed him a smile, "Relax Harry. I'm just having a go at you."

"Can you not? Please? I was actually starting to think you were being serious and I had no idea what to say."

"You're so fun to wind up though." They had been walking down a wide alley to where Emily claimed they would find lodgings for the night. She stopped beside him and her hold on his hand kept him from going forward without her. She gently pulled him into her embrace, wrapping both arms around his body. "Don't worry, I plan on apologizing to you in a most sincere manner later. I think you'll... appreciate the effort I put into it."

"I'm not sure which is worse, the fact that you are willing to use sex for every single slight you make against me, or the fact that I'm willing to accept it nine times out of ten."

"I'd say its far more than nine of ten, but whatever."

The two of them exited the alley to find a strip of building that were not tall enough to hide the great pyramids from them. "Those are the Pyramids of Giza," Emily explained. "We will be breaking into them later, and we'll be staying at this inn here." She gestured towards a building in front of them.

"Let me guess, this is actually an old resort for a pharaoh from thousands of years ago."

"No, Harry. Its an inn. Built within the last two years."

Harry pursed his lips and decided to not make anymore comments for a few minutes. She had been getting some pretty good digs in recently and he decided to keep some dignity.

Upon entering the small building, they both approached the desk. To his relief, the man at the front desk spoke fluent English and Harry was able to understand the entire transaction. Though he doubted it could be called that, as money did not exchange hands. Once again Emily made use of the imperius curse to acquire them free room and board. This time Harry was able to pinpoint the exact moment of the cast, though it wasn't due to any tip offs on Emily's part. Harry had been watching them both and only the man gave any obvious signs to curse. It was a simple stutter, and the next few phrases were slightly slurred. Harry chalked his ability to take note of what happened up to the man speaking a language that Harry was deeply familiar with.

When they entered the small room, Harry turned to Emily and asked her a question that had been nagging him for quite some time. "Can you cast all the unforgivable curses non verbally?"

To her credit, she did look him in the eye while responding... sort of. She was rummaging through a bag she had acquired in France to place her own belongings and she did pause and lock their gazes from the corner of her eye. "Yes. I am capable of casting all current era spells non verbally."

"Okay, I'm gonna have to question that one. Current era?"

She faced him fully now, choosing to lean against the wall of the room as she got into her lecture mode. "Don't get it confused with the time frame that the muggles use. That's the last two thousand years. Current era spells are spells that are less than thirteen hundred years old. Sometime in the early eighth century, spell crafting took a strong base in Latin. Spells were created with uniform wand movements, intent and incantations. This made it easier to teach magic seeing as up until then, magic was mostly intent based. Any magic that existed before standardized magic it considered ancient magic. Vast amounts of ancient magic is obsolete as the standard counterpart is more simplistic to use and just as effective. There are, however, for more obscure and sometimes powerful spells that either were not brought into the current era, or simply were too complex to be adapted."

"Like the magic that protected me as a baby?"

That comment made her frown, any reference to her attempted murder of him as a baby ruined her mood. "That was not quite so much ancient magic as it was plain old magic to be honest. Your mother gave her life to protect you. While doing so she will her magic to protect you. Normally when a witch or wizard dies, that's it. The magic fades with them. But your mother faced death with the intent for her magic to operate beyond her body's demise. So even though she died, her magic cocooned you with one sole purpose. To protect you from me. I couldn't cause you harm back then. The only reason I can bypass that protection now is because Dumbledore tied that 'perfect shield' to your blood. In doing so, it expanded the protection to stop all who wished to cause you harm while you lived with someone of your mother's blood. I used your blood in my Resurrection so I have superseded your mother's magic.

"Really? All harm? So during the summer, at Privet Drive, I'm like... immortal?"

"Hah," Emily gave a sharp bark of laughter. "Hardly. Draco Malfoy could push you in front of a bus in Little Whinging and you'd still get crushed. Your mother's magic _may_ keep you alive, but you will be horribly damaged. The protection is perfect for magical attacks that are intended to end your life, but a giant could still step on you and kill you. As for just the summer part, I'm afraid its not so limited. As long as you called Privet Drive your home, the protection would last."

"What? Why?"

"I just told you why. It's because you no longer consider Privet Drive your home."

"Then I doubt the protection ever lasted past first few years. The Dursleys never allowed me to feel at home with them."

"They didn't really have to. As long as you saw it as a place you belonged, the magic would be in effect. And since you had no other place to go, you saw their home as your own. Your relatives are the worst kind of trash, and they will pay for their mistreatment of you, but they did fulfill the basic requirements to keep you safe."

"Please tell me you aren't plotting to kill the Dursleys, Emily. I know you don't like them, but there isn't any sense in killing them."

"It would make me feel better."

"Emily, I'm asking you, please, don't hurt my family."

She sneered at him, pushing her body from its position against the wall. "Family? How can you still defend them, Harry. They saw you as nothing more than a house elf, when you were nothing more than a child. They never loved you as they should have. Never treated you with affection or respect. I was the one who fixed their failures. I loved you. I gave you the things they never did."

"You did, but this isn't a contest between you and them, Emily. This is me asking you to rein in that monster you have inside you. I am asking you, please, don't hurt them. I will never have to see them again, so lets just let them move on with their lives and we can move one with ours, okay?"

She had been tense and angry, but the heated emotions faded when he referred to their future as 'ours'. He always knew how to 'rein in the monster' as he called it. Even if he did it with a single word at the end of his pleading.

"I love you." It was a phrase she had said to him constantly for so many months, if it were anyone other than her Harry, they would have considered the words cheap. But Harry knew what she felt for him, he knew just how heavy the phrase truly weighed. It was one of the many reasons he hadn't said the words back to her for so long. At least, that's what she told herself.

The words alone were not an answer, in all fairness, but she knew that Harry would understand that she was once again bending for his wishes. This did throw a small wrench into her plans however. If he wanted his relations to stay safe from her, then she would have to either make use of his body, or use their bodies and then fix them afterwards.

Later date, she thought. It could all be dealt with later. For now, she had a lovely young man in front of her and the night was young. They had far more entertaining tasks they could be enjoying. After all, she still had an apology she owed him.

Harry had felt as though he had only just fallen asleep when he was being rustled awake by Emily. Her hands were gently rocking him, and she was whispering into his ear. His mind didn't catch onto what the soft murmurs were, but he slowly and groggily regained his senses.

"Wassah?"

"Morning, beautiful. We're going to be breaking into the tombs now, so, get ready."

"What? You said we would be doing that later."

"And now is later, so get dressed."

Harry did not feel as though tomb raiding was something one should do in a groggy state, Emily had different ideas apparently. Just as well, he figured. A little bit of adventure normally woke him right up.

The two of them left only minutes later, taking off through the window instead of the door. Emily was once again showing Harry her ability to fly without support. It was more or less bragging about speed. Because while Harry could maneuver far better than she could, in a contest of speed, Emily could move much faster. Emily was disillusioned, and Harry had cast a sticking charm on his invisibility cloak so no one would see two low flying UFOs speeding across the desert sands.

The pyramids had already been in view, but as they came closer, Harry was able to see the actual scope of the monoliths. They were towering structures of weathered stone, the largest of the three seeming to rival the size of Hogwarts itself.

"How on earth are we going to find what we are looking for in this thing?" He shouted this to her as loudly as he could, wondering if she would even hear him swell enough to respond.

Emily laughed at him, though he barely heard the sound over the rushing wind. "These things are massive, yes. But they are ninety-nine percent stone. Only the tiniest fraction of the interior is hollowed out. Those area's are were the dead and treasures are kept."

"How many dead people are in these things?"

"The pharaoh, his wife and his finest guards."

Nothing more was said until they landed inside the pyramid compound. Well, until Emily decided they would land, Harry had suddenly lost control of his broom and found himself descending to one of the pyramids faces. At first glance, it simply seemed as part of the pyramid had either eroded off or had been hit by something. But as Harry's feet alighted on the stone he realized that in was an entrance of some sort.

"This is the main entrance, we'll be walking from here. Its gonna be a few minutes, we have to get pretty deep to get to the guards chambers. Above that is the queen's chamber and at the highest internal point lies the kings chamber."

"I'm surprised you don't want to use the kings bones for this."

"I would find it preferable actually, but the body was removed from the tomb hundreds of years ago by a group of dark wizards. The muggles were quite surprised when they entered the tomb in the nineteenth century to find the king's tomb empty."

"What did the dark wizards want with the corpse?"

"Egyptians had very unique burial rituals. This is a well known fact in both muggle and magical society. What the muggles do not know however is that those rituals preserved the body and created a facade of the person inside the body. One could then use necromancy to bring the pharoah back to life, or at least, a facsimile of him."

"That mostly went over my head Emily. I want you to pretend that I'm a fifteen year old and explain it again."

"Smart ass. The facade I was talking about is similar to a magical portrait's intelligence and personality. Facsimile is a more descriptive and elaborate word for copy. After performing the necromancy ritual they did indeed resurrect the ancient king, but they were not his people, not Egyptian, so he cut them all down. From what we know of the incident, bear in mind this happened in the sixteenth century, they fought back, but he was nigh immortal in the form he was in."

"So pharaohs are buried in order to be brought back to life later?"

"No one is certain of the precise reason for mummification, the muggles seem to think its for an 'afterlife'. Which I suppose it is, but its a life still in this realm. I personally feel that the purpose behind it all was mostly emergencies. Natural disasters, wars and the like."

They had come to a fork in the tomb, one leading up, the other leading down. "If we were to go up, we would find the Queen and King's chambers. We'll be going down to the guard's chamber."

Emily lead them forward, down into the depths. Eventually they came out into a wide chamber with many stone boxes. Harry assumed that each held a body, any of which would siut their purpose. Emily however went right on past the stone coffins to the far wall.

"Why not use these?"

"Because they are all empty."

Emily, as she was prone to, didn't even turn to look at him when she answered, instead placed her focus on the wall before her.

"I'm going to take a leap of logic then, and say that somewhere down here, there are more then?"

"Excellent deduction, Harry. Being around me has made an improvement I see."

"Wouldn't go that far, I just figured if you came this way, then you wouldn't have made a wasted trip, knowing they were all empty."

"So, not intelligence speaking, but faith in me, huh? Makes me happy all the same I guess. The muggles have many security measures place in these tombs to prevent access. You probably didn't notice me disabling them on our way down, but I have been. They have robbed this place of everything, even the corpses. But there are areas that the muggles couldn't access, thanks to their lack of magic. That's were we find what we need. Come here please."

Harry approached her slowly. Knowing that there was still active magic in a place like this reminded him that ancient Egyptian tombs had terrible curses inside them.

'My brother Bill is a curse breaker in Egypt. He took us into the tombs. Mum wouldn't let us see some of the worst things in there.' Ron's words echoed in his head from an old memory.

"Careful Emily. These places can have some scary magic."

"Oh Harry, I appreciate your concern, but I am more than capable of-" She stopped short and hit the floor as a bright bolt of lightning erupted from the wall in front of her. The deadly bolt of light didn't stop there however. It careened from one surface to the next seeking human flesh. Harry's reflexes were the only thing that saved him from losing a leg. He jumped into the air as the magic surged below him then threw himself into an open stone sarcophagus. He follow the bolt as it zipped around the room, occasionally trying to stop it with a shield charm, but his magic moved slower than his body and he always seemed to place the magic after the lightning had passed.

Emily arose a moment later her arm glowing a deep purple and yelled, "Get down!" Harry did as he was told and right after the stone lid sealed him in. No sooner had Emily sealed him inside the supposedly safe enclosure did the insides of the sarcophagus glow a deep red and Harry knew that Emily might have made a bad call.

* * *

Emily had only spent a moment on the ground, layering her entire left arm with an enchant that would hopefully allow her to catch the lightning if it came after her again. Emily was forced to leave the enchantment half finished when she heard Harry make a yelp, and knew that he had only just dodged the deadly curse that was rampaging around the room.

She rose from her place on the floor and saw her lover's torso sticking out of a nearby sarcophagus. He was brilliant when he was thinking on his feet. He had immediately found cover and Emily could seal him in briefly, stop the magic and they could continue on with this supposedly simple errand. "Get down!" He reacted quickly, and in less than three seconds he was sealed in stone and she switched her entire focus towards the white streak of death that was seeking them out. It moved beyond a speed most could react to, so she put every ounce of her concentration on her body, even blocking her connection to Harry momentarily. It only took seconds for the curse to head her way again and she thrust her glowing hand into the lightning. The half formed enchantment protected her far better than it really had any right to, something she could probably attribute to how old the curse was. It still ate away at the protections she had placed and into her arm.

There was no pain at first, the only way she knew that she was even being hurt was the fact that she could see her own arm being incinerated. The pain slammed into her moments later and she knew that something was off. Her entire body radiated an almost crippling soreness. Her arm itself was acute and excruciating agony, but it didn't explain the full body effect she was feeling.

Fortune, or misfortune, favored her as her focus waned and her connection to Harry opened back up and then she screamed. It was a shriek so loud and peircing it would have deafened anyone else in the room. Whirling around she rushed towards the place she had sealed him inside. Because she was now fully able to feel the fire wrapping around his entire body, burning him alive.

"HARRY!"

As she approached she threw every spell she could to destroy the resting place he was locked inside, but everything bounced off. She even fired off several killing curses which were known for tearing through any and all magical protections. The only thing they achieved were blackening the old stone. Finally reaching the stone coffin she raised both fists and slammed them into the lid she had placed over him. Her body's enhanced strength made a far greater impact than all her spells combined as when her fists met stone spiderweb cracks spread along the stone. She repeated the action three times before the rock gave way and a blazing fire erupted towards the ceiling.

It could be said that it was a testament of Emily's will that she allowed herself to be engulfed by the flames. She didn't shrink back in pain from the fire, allowing the flames to latch onto her torso and head as though she were kindling. Grabbing the blackening body from the burial place, she threw them back from the fire before turning on the spot, and with a sharp crack, they disappeared.

A/N: So, yea, cliff hanger. Fear not though, I am halfway through 6 already (lots of writing done today, just like the good old days) and you'll be seeing that either later tonight or sometime tomorrow.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N:This one took longer to wrap up than I expected. I've given it a once over and threw it up.

Chapter 6

Emily reappeared in the small room of their hotel.

"Fuck."

He was in bad shape. Technically he was dead, but that was a minor detail. While anyone at St. Mungo's would have written him off as a lost cause, Emily was far more powerful than a mediwizard. She wasted little time in gently depositing the corpse on the bed before attempting to cast a spell with her wand. Nothing happened and when she turned to look at her wand, she was horrified to see that her beautiful yew wand was nothing more than a blackened useless stump. Its last act of magic was allow her to apparate them out of the pyramid.

"FUCK."

Time was of the essence, and she needed a wand. She had cast many spells on Harry's robes and they had remained in, well, not decent condition through the flames, but they were in one piece. Rifling through his clothes she felt for his wand, praying to a God she would never believe in for it to be there. Her hopes were dashed again.

"FUCK!"

Emily placed her hands on the bed, tilting her head down to look at the one that was left. She was out of options. And it was literally a matter of moments until the love of her life could not be helped. What could she do, he needed more time. She needed more time, and his life was slipping away so fast. Time and life were running out, she needed more...

"I need more life."

He would hate her for this, but at least he would be alive. A very simplistic blood ritual could transfer the life of one individual to another, but it using it would bring the entirety of Egypt down on their location. It was considered the darkest art of the Dark Arts. Human sacrifice. For a person couldn't give life willingly through this act, it had to be taken. Performing the act would literally bathe the entire city in dark magic and anyone with a wand would be able to trace it back to the source. Not to mention the magic would stick to her for days. But that could all be dealt with later, she was down to seconds here.

Emily allowed her body to fade to an incorporeal mist and fazed through the walls looking for any human being. Two rooms over she found a young couple, clearly just married if the white dress in the corner were anything to go by. Allowing her physical body to manifest she grabbed the closest limb to her, the young woman's leg and dragged her to the door. She was naked under the thin sheet and when her body hit the floor, she woke with a start. The thud woke the husband and her subsequent screams moved him faster than anyone had any right to move after waking from a dead sleep.

The man rushed towards her in a stumble screaming with a deep voice, "ALICE! GET AWAY FROM HER!" Though his dash was uncoordinated, his desperation pushed him to reach her in a moment. He leaped over the flailing form of his wife and slammed into the red eyed demon who was attempting to take her away. He tackled her full bodied, but it was like running head first into a brick wall. The monster did not budge, only used a blackened stump to fling him away from it. He slammed into the wall beside the door, feeling his spine snap and ribs crush and he lost all feeling in his body.

Capable of nothing more than looking at the creature take his beloved wife away, for the first time he got a real look at it. At one point the monster could have been a pretty young woman, but her body now was monstrous. Her black hair was sporadically burned off and most of her face had met a similar fate. Clearly this was a demon who had been sentenced to the fires of hell and had escaped. Having no other power, he could only beg.

"Please... take me." The pain was excruciating. Having to speak while his lungs were filling with blood. "Don't... take her. I... I love her."

The man's wife, Alice, had fallen silent after seeing her husband crushed into the wall. Too many shocks too soon, and the sight had been to much for her consciousness to handle and her mind shut down. The devil showed him mercy, letting the woman fall before grabbing him with her one arm and dragging him off.

"A living human is all I need. You'll do, despite your condition."

He was going to die, he knew it. The monster in front of him needed to kill something for some purpose. Though there was no reason for him to feel gratitude, the emotion filled him regardless. At least Alice would live.

"Thank you."

The man had lost consciousness after thanking her for sparing his wife. Emily had only agreed to his pleas as he was right by the door and the switch cost her no time. After all, who better than her could understand the need to save the person they loved. For in this moment, that was the only thing on her mind. She kicked the door to her room in and threw the body onto the corpse of her lover. Using her teeth, she bit into her udamaged arm and used her blood as a catalyst in place of a wand. It was crude but she could use this method to start the spell for the ritual she needed. Ancient magic at its finest.

Emily began chanting the ancient Greek incantation, doing so as fast as she could. The man began bleeding from every visible orifice in seconds, the blood seeping out of his very pores moments later. This was a piece of magic she learned decades ago and never expected to make use of.\\. A caster couldn't use it on themselves and Emily never expected to experience the need to keep someone alive this badly. Especially someone she would love. Then again, love never factored into her equations back then.

The blood started making its way to the blackened husk below the man. Emily watched with rapt attention even as she kept speaking. Even as moments past, there was no change in Harry. His skin remained charred and he remained motionless. It was too late.

Emily finished the incantation in despair. She had taken too long. If only she had recognized her lack of a wand faster. If only she had thought to use the ritual first. With an angry growl she flung the broken body of the nameless muggle away from her deceased lover. It was then that she noticed the boy's chest was moving.

"You're alive."

Her eyes widened to almost perfect circles. Of course, he wouldn't be healed, she thought. This was nothing more than a ritual to restore life. It wouldn't heal, it just bought her time. Harry now had minutes as opposed to seconds and she needed to move fast. She had to secure a wand, something that would appear any sec-

Three loud pops alerted her to the arrival of Egyptian magical law enforcement. She was certain that even more would arrive any moment. The kind of magic she had just performed could never go under the radar, after all. Vaulting over the bed and sprinting to the door she plowed her fist through the wall next to it. Feeling her fist meet bone she knew that one of the wizards was out for the count. The other two would be close. Crouching low, she moved through the door, ripping her arm from the wall. She had a wizard to her left and a witch to her right. Grabbing the man, who was the largest, she pivoted, wrestling his wand from his grip and shoved him into his partner. The woman was caught mid cast and they both slid down the concrete walkway.

Emily, with a newly acquired wand in her hand ran to her lover, casting a repairing charm on the door and throwing up a simple ward to keep out intruders. It wouldn't last more than twenty seconds, but that was more than what she needed. She immediately cast a flesh eating curse onto her lover that ate away the blackened skin on his body, revealing the muscle and bone beneath him. A levitation charm on his body allowed her to see the extent of the damage. His extremities were the worst off, the bone itself showing for his hands and feet. Those weren't too important right now. What was important was his organs, which where in his fairly intact torso. The cursed sarcophagus he had been placed in was deadly yes, but it was meant to lead to a horribly painful, but slow death. She cast several spells to begin replicating the muscle fibers all over his body, but they would need a minute before their effectiveness could be seen. She couldn't move him until then.

"Great." She sneered. She should flee and try to recover him at a later time. That's what the tactical side of her brain told her. The aurors that finally made their way in here would be able to tell that he was the recipient of the dark magic, not the caster of it, so they would help him heal to question him later. She could bust him out when he was better.

But the last time he had left her sight for the span of an hour, Albus Dumbledore had been about to wipe his memories of her. She would not let him out of her grasp, and if she had to take on the entire Egyptian magical law enforcement department to do so, then that was a necessary step. An easier task than attempting to duel Albus Dumbledore and his cronies all at once anyway.

She began casting spells at once, the first one barricading the door with the bed. One transfiguration later turned it to a block on tungsten. A drain of magic, but they wouldn't try to blast a hole into the building too soon. Not when there were muggles still about, and she knew there were. This was a popular tourist spot after all.

Still that wouldn't buy her nearly enough time, especially when she was more than likely going to be up against well over one hundred witches and wizards. She pointed her wand at the broken body of the muggle before, reanimating his corpse into that of an inferi and cast another flesh eating curse onto his body. The curse would stay on the muscle fibers so anyone the inferi touched would get a taste of the curse themselves. The counter curse would need to be used first. She pointed her wand to the floor when she felt her ward fall. Her first barricade had fallen, she needed to make more. She started blasting out the floor. Making more things for her to transfigure.

She then expanded the room. This was the piece of magic she expended the most of her energy on. Dimensional expansion was simple magic, but costly and Emily made the fifteen foot by twenty foot room ten times larger. The massive room was practically empty save for the rubble from her blasting spell and the large metal block being chipped away at the door. She began transfigured rubble, creating walls, and making an intricate maze. She charmed the first few walls to be impervious to blasting spells, hoping that they didn't start checking after the first few turns.

Mostly done crafting the walls of the maze, Emily was able to hear the shouting of people. They were inside. She turned to the hole in the floor that had magically expanded with the rest of the room, turning into a small cavern. She had placed Harry's slowly mending body in that crevasse and she slid down to join him. Now came the difficult part. she whipped her wand in an arc blanketing the above room's floor with fiendfyre. This in and of itself wasn't too straining, but keeping the flames away from the hole as they ran rampant upstairs was difficult.

She couldn't help giggling each and every time she heard the screams of someone getting attacked by one of the fiery monsters. How was it possible that an entire group of magical law enforcement officers couldn't handle a little fiendfyre? By now she had shrunk the hole that lead down to her and Harry to space about a meter across, and was trying to wait patiently for the muscle to finish regrowing on his body. It was an agonizing process, and she could technically leave now and finish healing him later, but the longer the spell stayed active on him now, the faster the process would go later. And the less parts he would lose permanently.

She had a portkey already created, that would whisk them out of Africa and into the mountains of Asia. She knew many secluded locations in which she could work privately at the foothills of Mt Everest. As soon as one of the Aurors above got past her fiendfyre she would activate the portkey and they would be out of here. However she was starting to think she'd have all the time in the world as the wizards and witches up stair were proving how greatly incompetent they were.

While feindfyre was a powerful bit of dark magic that gained more power as it spread, it could be stopped with ease if one had enough wands available. It could be suppressed. Not everyone had to be an Albus Dumbledore and smother the entire spell alone.

Emily did not know that once the Aurors had breached her blockade that they had split into small groups. One of the groups had been killed by her inferi, which had wondered off into the maze. The flesh eating curse rendered them immobile and the fire ended their lives. Another group, including the lead auror had been combating the flames with great success but her inferi wandered into their midst and split their focus. They perished with the inferi as the fire turned them all to ash. Now the sporadic groups of aurors were leaderless, spread thin and lost. Couple that with waging a war against a growing dark fire it should have been no surprise that they were failing spectacularly. Apparition had been made impossible thanks to the anti apparition wards they had placed around the area and no one had expected this jaunt to warrant the use of portkeys. Because while the spell Emily had used may have been the darkest of the dark arts, it was woefully simple and most who used it were pathetic wizards or witches who didn't have the ability to save a life any other way.

Finally the flames reached the edge of the enchanted room and begain eating away at Emily's expansion charm. When the room started shaking violently everyone knew that the space was about to collapse in on itself. Most of the surviving aurors would make it out alive, but several would remain trapped inside the room when the charm failed, condensing the space to its normal size. They would be crushed by all the transfigured items and fire being thrown to the center of the room.

Emily activated the portkey at the first shake of the room, just to be on the safe side. With a pained tug she and the barely living form of Harry Potter she held onto were pulled through space, the two of them landing in the cold climate of the foothills of Mt. Everest.

* * *

Emily liked Mt. Everest. It, like she, stood above everything else on the planet. Most who dared to test Mt. Everest died just like those who attempted to test her. Well, the muggles anyway. She had carved out a cavern in her over fifty years ago, she had even once debated on leaving one of her precious horcruxes here. The thought passed quickly, as she didn't like the idea of leaving a piece of her soul so far away from her reach.

Still this little getaway of hers would be perfect for her to nurse Harry back to health. The feud between magical Nepal and China, the two countries surrounding the mountain, was well known. The muggles in China had taken over Tibet in the fourteenth century, with the magical community following suit soon after. While the occupation of Tibet lasted for centuries in the muggle world and even present day was argued over, things in the magical world had not retained such a status quo. It wasn't outright open warfare, but there was a clear line where Tibet claimed its sovereignty. And any time the Chinese crossed that border, which happened on an almost weekly basis.

Naturally, one would assume how this affected Nepal. While the muggle nations were not exactly allies, the magical communities in these nations considered themselves close allies. While Nepal had managed to maintain its independence, they were constantly at odds with the Chinese due to the constant border attacks in Tibet. This resulted in a two versus one scenario with skirmishes breaking out almost constantly. Thusly few magicals ever dared to climb Everest in fear of the enemy country firing upon them.

Moving into the entrance of a nearby cave, she came to a solid oak door. In the rock face. A queer thing too see anywhere, but Emily was unperturbed. Grasping the handle of the door she opened it to reveal a comfortable sitting room. The disparity between the two locations was ridiculously apparent. One side held nothing but snow covered rock, the other an opulent, warm and inviting room.

Entering the space she closed the door and allowed the warmth of the room to embrace her. The room was brightly lit, though there were no apparent light sources. The floor was carpeted in a dark green, and the walls made of the same solid oak as the door. The room was fairly spartan, with only two chairs, a desk and an elongated love seat.

It was the love seat that she chose to hover Harry's body over. With the muscle almost completely regrown over his body, he was in no danger of dying, though his skin still needed to be replaced. But before that could happen several steps would need to be taken beforehand.

So her plan was to hide out here, repair her lover's body, and then return to their tour across the world. It would be fairly simple. Rummaging through her belongings she pull out a shrunken case. Emily had pick the case up from the apothecary in France along with the Maledict draught. Enlarging the case fully, she opened it up to reveal that the two side held a collapsible cauldron and the other half contain pouches upon pouches of potion ingredients. Originally she had purchased this all in one kit to run Harry through the rest of his Potion's curriculum, however this was a far more important purpose.

Emily considered herself a competent potion brewer. Which that is to say she was just shy of being a master of the art. All she lacked was the in depth understanding of ingredient interaction. She could brew any potion as long as she had the directions. She could even change certain aspect of most potion's processes to achieve a slight desired alteration. However she could not peruse over thousands of ingredients and create a potion from scratch like Severus Snape could. 'And to think,' she mused to herself. 'The man is even more capable in the field of the dark arts'. The man was gifted, it was such a shame that she planned on having him locked up in Azkaban for the next century after she controlled Britain. He would spend the rest of his life remembering how he failed Lily Potter in the worst way. That was his deserved fate for betraying her.

Death was the ultimate punishment in her mind, yes, but her anger at Severus demanded a far more lasting sentence. Death would be too quick. No, death would be her mercy to Severus, an end to a life of suffering she would subject him to. But enough about those thoughts.

Emily had a vast list of potions and the proper method to brew them in her head. She never forgot a piece of magic once she learned it, after all. With the gemino charm, she had four cauldrons sitting over low fires all brewing basic medical potions.

Normally these potions would have taken far too long to brew, but there were complex charms the speed things up. Temporal magic. The reason such spells were not actually used in the brewing process were twofold. One, the charms were terribly complex, as all temporal magic tended to be. The second was that the magic ruined the potion. Once successfully brewed, a potion with temporal magic applied to any part of its making, would spoil in minutes. Zero shelf life. Terrible for a hospital that needed these things in reserve. The magic was impractical, and had almost no use. Save for an unfortunate even when the potions were needed fast and none were available.

Emily let out an dry laugh before muttering, "Look at all the magic I've been using lately that I would never have thought I would need." She turned to the boy floating gently in the air above the couch. This was her fault, she knew. She had made a poor judgement call in bringing him into the tomb with her. What's worse was the fact that he had been handling himself well enough, it was only until she intervened that things had gone sour. It was a blow to her unshakable pride, and it stung.

He had died, albeit briefly. That was on her conscience. It was a small miracle that the cursed fire was not destructive enough to destroy the Horcrux inside of him. Thankfully they were notoriously sturdy bits of dark magic and would have weathered the flames until the body had been reduced to ash. Only then would the Horcrux have been destroyed, no longer having a container to reside in.

Emily took a deep breath. All was well now. She had Harry, he was fine, or rather, he would be fine soon. With a roll of her shoulders she tried to release the negativity she had been feeling. Because deep down, the last hour had been nothing more than a constant repeat of the emotions she had felt on the cold muggle streets of London a month before. She had been suppressing it up until this moment, but everything was fine now. She just had to take a moment and orient herself.

Emily mindlessly worked on the potions, doing the steps as they were required, and casting the correct spells as needed. Three of them would need to go down through Harry's mouth, one would end up as a thick salve she would spread across his body and it would restore his skin.

"Thank goodness I was able to let the cellular replication spell work long enough to repair this." She gently ghosted her hand across his manhood. It was, she had to admit, one of the primary reasons for staying in Egypt so long after his body was stable. The fire had burned away all his extremities first, and the last part that was repaired was his sexual organs. Silly men, with their bits being on the outside of their body. She frowned as she gently touched the single testicle; most of it had been restored anyway. Sex was a prominent part of their relationship, and she knew Harry loved the act almost as much as she did. So even though she had put them in danger of being in a worse situation, she knew Harry would not fault her for it. If she hadn't stayed, she would not have been able to repair it. After all, what kind of man would accept a situation where he had to live life without his penis.

The potions finished one by one and Emily administered them in sequence. The first was seeped into his bloodstream via his mouth and throat, expanding and restoring his blood vessels, arteries and capillaries in his newly regrown tissues. The second was a blood replenishing potion, filling those new vessels with blood so everything started getting the oxygen it needed to start operating. The final potion was to prevent infection. He had been reduced to a husk after all. No idea what was inside his body now. The salve was the last one to be done, she had planned it that way as she would have to rush to put it all over his body before it spoiled. She idly look at the place where his scar used to be, and wondered if it would reappear. It was the sign of her horcrux, so if she had to pick an outcome she would wager it would return. And if it didn't, then all the better. She knew he hated the damned thing, and she wasn't fond of the mark either. It was just an ever present reminder that she had slaughtered his family and hurt him beyond measure.

The pale, beige colored salve was doing as it was meant to, slowly becoming brand new skin all over his body. It was baby smooth, without blemish, making him look younger than he already did. She was once again reminded that the man she was in love with was a child compared to her. She had over four times his amount of years under her belt, and yet she couldn't even keep him safe.

Self loathing was a brand new emotion for Emily. She didn't even recognize it. She just felt... unsettled. Queasy. As though something was wrong, but she didn't know how to fix it.

"Wake up soon, love. I need you here."

She left him in the middle of the room, hovering above the same couch. Moving to the wall she pressed her hand into the stone revealing a small bathroom. She shed her ruined clothes only to look into the mirror to receive a ghastly shock. She looked hideous. Viscous burns coated her upper body and she was more bald than not.

"On second thought, stay asleep for longer." She leaned against the stone wall, and looked to the ceiling. No one would ever know of the few tears that escaped her eyes. Things had been so hard, and now this. Emily was vain to a fault, her looks being on the lower end of that long list. Still, she took pride in her aesthetics. And now, that was gone. She couldn't let him see her like this. He would already blame her for the fire, and she was now hideous to boot. Why was it that the first time she ever screwed something up, it ruined everything?

"Pull it together Emily. Harry loves me. My looks don't matter." She took a deep sigh. "Still no sense in greeting my beautiful lover looking like this. I did have plans to replace my flesh anyway. May as well move up the time table." Leaving the bathroom she once again stopped near Harry. She couldn't use his body. He was in no condition to provide her with what she needed. She would have to pay a visit to his family.

"I have to break a promise to you, love. But it won't really be breaking a promise. I will ensure that your aunt feels no pain." Fully aware that she was really only talking to herself, she continued. "But I'm afraid I'll never tell you about this, I've screwed up too much in too little time with you. I'll make it seem like a terrible accident. I still want to apologize for it though, so please accept my feelings in sleep." She kissed his perfectly smooth, rosy lips. Leaving the chamber and sealing the door with several special wards, she apparated away.

* * *

Petunia Dursley was washing the dishes all the while craning her neck to see out the window to watch the neighbors. She had a sneaking suspicion that the happy young couple at number six weren't quite as happy as they appeared. She had seen the young Italian man, who owned a flower shop in town. He had been making far too many deliveries to the young missus an-

The thought was never completed as a brilliant flash of green stole the life from her body. Emily had to apparate almost a dozen times and create four portkeys to get here. Magical law enforcement in almost every country was hot on her trail as soon as she showed up somewhere, thanks to the dark magic radiating from her body. One auror had manage to wrap a hand around her arm as she apparated into Spain. When they arrived he pissed himself when he got a look at her. She didn't blame him, she knew she looked quite disgusting. Didn't stop her from killing him, however. She had to mix things up to lose them. But they would be here soon and she still had to arrange this to be an accident.

She paused. Odds are Dumbledore had this place warded up to the hilt, so here she would not be discovered. While there was no guarantee, she felt comfortable enough with the assumption to take her time. Now how to do this right. She began looking around before the kitchen sink caught her eye. Back in the forties, she remembered that the orphanage she lived at had installed something called a Disposall. It was an American invention that shredded food inside the sink allowing it to pass through the plumbing. If there was one here...

As luck would have it, it seemed as though Harry's relatives did indeed have a Disposall, or garbage disposal. Though it was much different than it had been sixty years prior, it would work well enough. She would have to cleave off the woman's hand for the ritual. Then use a gemino spell on the severed limb. The spell wouldn't really hold up too well on organic material, but seeing as she planned on grinding it up, it didn't matter. Lodge the woman's arm into the disposal, leave it on and spray this side of the room with some blood. She couldn't waste too much time. While the husband may have been at work, the whale child could waddle in any moment. While she didn't care too much about that, she would rather be as true to her promise as possible and limit the deaths in Harry's family to one.

Once again, she stopped dead. The realization hit her all of a sudden that she had finally killed all of Harry's blood relatives. Wiped them out. She had truly made the boy an orphan. All he had left was a fat cousin, who would probably eat himself to death within ten years.

"I hope you realize you fell for a monster, love. Because I just can't seem to stop." With that muttered phrase, Emily got to work. Setting everything up was simple, but she had to charm the body. God knows, Dumbledore would have that long crooked nose shoved so far up into this 'accident' he would smell her burnt flesh. Emily reanimated the corspe as an inferi, cast several spells get its heart beating and force its nervous system to send electric signals to the brain. All to make it seem alive. She then severed the arm in the sink with one of the woman's sharp knives. Couldn't use magic on the cause of death after all, Dumbledore would check that first.

She cast the Gemino charm on the bloody mess before wrapping the freshly severed limb into a trash bag she took from the pantry. Taking the copy she shoved it into the sink along with the remaining arm that was attached to the corpse before turning on the machine and watching the blood spray. While the body was simply standing there, allowing the disgusting mess to happen, Emily kicked the inferi in the back of its knees, dropping it to them. Then she slammed the head into the side of the sink. Four minutes later she removed the enchantment's and let the body 'die'.

So here is how the string of events would play out for the old man. Mrs. Dursley was being a nosy little fuck, and accidentally turns on the disposal while her hand is either in it or nearby. The woman slips, allowing her hand to sink into the machine and get ground up, bashing her head into the counter and losing consciousness. Bleeds out slumped over the drain.

There would still be some holes. The biggest being as to why the pain didn't wake the woman up, but that could be chalked up to a concussion. Now that her mission was complete, she had to get out of here. With a little luck the traces of dark magic that lingered here would fade in minutes. After all, the magic clung to her body like glue. Very little of it would remain here. Once again she twisted, and with a sharp crack, disapparated.

* * *

She had been gone for roughly three hours, and was internally panicking. Though the odds were slim, it was quite possible that Harry was up and about. She disillusioned herself and crept into her hidden rooms. Relaxing when noticing his still floating form, she fled to the small loo and began preparing the ritual to replace her flesh with the muggle woman's. She wasn't sure if it was an upgrade from Pettigrew or not, to be honest.

The process was quick, though painful, not that pain mattered. She had just been moving about freely with half of her body being coated in second degree burns, and it hadn't slowed her pace. When Emily looked into the mirror half an hour later, she let out a sigh of relief. Beautiful, smooth skin had replaced the ugly red scars and blisters on her body. Her hair was once again restored fully and fell to her shoulder blades.

"All's well that ends well."

Feeling positive for the first time in hours, she went to the living area and waited for her lover to wake up.

* * *

Dumbledore was surprised to hear Nymphadora Tonk's voice from the fire place. It was a floo call he hadn't expected.

"Professor? Professor, are you there?"

The elderly headmaster made his way into the fireplaces view and the face in the blue flames sagged in relief, "Oh thank God. I wasn't certain what I was gonna do if you didn't answer."

Dumbledore smiled, he liked Nymphadora. She was headstrong, and had a good set of beliefs behind her. She was young, but he knew that she wanted to fight against Voldemort to make the world safe. Her desires were strong enough that she was allowed membership into the Order of the Phoenix.

"How can I help you, Tonks?"

"Big lead on the you know what case, professor. This line isn't exactly secure, so I can't flat out say anything. But down in Egypt, some crazy dark ritual was performed. Human sacrifice type stuff, you know. Bout a hundred people arrived at the scene, but less than thirty came out alive."

"That's terrible."

"Yes sir, it is. But what they found at the scene is the important bit. The found the remains of two wands that shared the same phoenix feather core. One was yew and the other holly."

Dumbledore didn't need a bigger clue. Such a thing could not be coincidence. "It would seem our wayward couple have indeed left the country. I'm surpised. Were there any witnesses?"

"Three, sir. One muggle and two aurors. Apparently the muggle was recently married to the victim of sacrifice. Honeymoon trip. She claimed a demon had grabbed her by the leg and pulled her from her bed. Her husband tried to fight it, but he was slammed into the wall. That's the last thing she remembers. They figure the shock got to her at that point."

"Hmmm, strange. If the woman had been taken at first, why was the target switched?" What had Emily done?

"No clue, sir. The auror's gave us even less to go on, just a physical description in the dark. Their memories aren't the best either. It was hard to see the person's face to identify them."

"Still I think its safe to say that our Romeo and Juliet ran into a spot of trouble, and were gravely hurt. Then Juliet used a human sacrifice to keep him alive. Where did this incident happen, precisely?" Knowing to keep things secretive, Dumbledore did not use Harry and Emily's names.

"Not to far from the pyramids, apparently."

Dumbledore's eyes rose at that. Emily Riddle should have had no need to go grave robbing. With her horcruxes already made, she didn't need any more treasures to seal pieces of her soul into. "Perhaps Romeo convinced her to take him to the tombs, curious lad that he is. Inside they probably tripped some ancient magic to hurt themselves."

"Yea, apparently Cheop's tomb had some... fire damage. But there's one other important bit, sir."'

Dumbledore wanted to take a seat. This was all too much. "What more is there?"

"One more item was recovered sir. A very special invisibility cloak. One like the Egyptians have never seen before."

Damn, Dumbledore thought. One of the Deathly Hallows was now lying in the hands of the Egpytian government. Not something the headmaster wanted to hear. He would somehow have to recover it later.

"Thank you, Tonks. I will get Alastor on tracing the dark magic now."

"Actually I already asked him to start looking. Last update I had from him, he said he was headed somewhere in between China and Nepal. He said he'd keep in regular contact."

"Wonderful work, Tonks. It is imperative that we move as fast as we can to find H- Romeo. Especially if he has run afoul of an Egyptian curse."

"Thank you, sir. I have to get back to work. Mad-Eye said he'd report straight to you. If you need me for anything sir, let me know. Kingsley has his ear to the ground as well."

"Very well. Good luck to all of you."

The connection closed and Dumbledore rose and stretched his legs. This was not something he could simply leave to others. No, they were close and Albus needed to put forth his own effort. It was imperative that Harry remain safe, and it seemed as though Emily was failing to keep him that way.

"I'm off to Asia, everyone." Dumbledore addressed the surrounding portraits. "If there is any need for me, well... stall. I may be gone for a few days."

"You can't just up and leave Hogwarts, Headmaster. Your are an integral part of this school's safety." An indignant fellow on the wall spoke up.

"Were my students here, then I would agree with you fully. But as far as I am concerned as long as their well being it taken care of, my job is done. And one of my students is in dire need of my assistance."

This statement caused the other portraits to remain silent as Albus Dumbledore gathered several things before gazing at his phoenix. With a musical trill, the bird flew to him and in a flash of fire, another person had joined the search.

A/N: So obviously things are taking a wild turn here. Harry's out for the count for an unknown amount of time and Dumbledore is closing in. Emily has tasted defeat for a second time, though this one was not followed immediately by a victory so she has to soak it up. I find myself having to do a lot of research while writing this AU stuff, so the pace is a bit bogged down. Hope you guys are enjoying it though.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Some of you may need to refresh your memories with Chapter 6. Egyptian tombs, fire, Harry legally dead, Harry brought back, etc. The first act of the story is transitioning to act two.

Chapter 7

Six hours.

Emily managed to enjoy six hours of peace waiting for Harry to awaken before she noticed that her isolated hideaway was, well, less isolated. Right now, Emily had curled her body against the sleeping form of her lover enjoying the sound of his heartbeat. Something that she had taken for granted the day before soothed her immensely now. But, all of a sudden, a faint ringing started in her ear. One that made her groan inwardly.

Unentwining their bodies, Emily made her way to the entrance of her room. She had thought that whoever it was that had invaded the ward she had placed down would be someone easy to manage. Some Chinese official who was brave enough to broach the dangerous mountain to investigate the dark magic they sensed there. However, she was not prepared to open the door and find...

"Good morning, Emily." Though the words were polite, Albus Dumbledore's face held no sign of a smile. "Is Harry with you?"

In any other circumstance Emily would have blasted his face off, but the shock had rendered her momentarily motionless. She had only just felt the wards going off, wards that had boundaries well over five hundred meters away. She had expected to make a bit of a hike to meet her visitor, not to have them knocking on her door.

Emily was no amateur, thankfully for her. Her wand was not in her hand and as soon as Dumbledore had finished asking about Harry's whereabouts she pulled out one of her trump cards. She screamed. However, this scream held no fear or anger. The closest thing one could describe it would be a controlled bit of accidental magic. Her scream was magically amplified, reaching decibels no human voice could ever hope to achieve. Certainly ones that human ears weren't capable of receiving.

The noise knocked both her and Dumbledore to the ground, both freely bleeding from the ears. While Dumbledore had already had his wand in his hand, Emily's had been leisurely stowed inside her robes. She rolled to the side, still within the room and drew her appropriated wand. Only to find it was not there. Looking to the door, she managed to see the wooden stick zoom its way out the door. Damn, the old man had summoned her wand.

Emily was impressed, though she wouldn't admit it. For Dumbledore to have his eardrums scrambled like that, and still have the presence of mind to disarm his opponent was an incredible feat. But Emily had a set of her own tricks. This was, after all, her own little hideout.

Wordlessly and wandlessly she summoned a wand from the under the small table nearby. The room did seem sparse, but she had a handful of weapons attached to the underside of the table. Her situation could not have been more grim. Were she in good form, and with her old wand, she would have loved this opportunity to kill Dumbledore. But her day had been quite long and she had performed some powerful magic as well. Add in the fact that her old wand was gone and in its place was one that hadn't performed magic in decades, and her odds weren't favorable.

Armed with a wand she cast a blasting spell at the doorway's floor. With a little luck the old man would get some of it, but she doubted it. Still, Emily Riddle was an opportunist, and would take every opening she could get. Against another foe, Emily would have just rushed them, as blowing someone's eardrums up often ruined their ability to pronounce spells. Albus Dumbledore was on a different level entirely, she doubted she had ever seen the man pronounce a spell since her Hogwarts days.

She once again made use of her little armory summoning and enchanted shield and lethal looking dagger from underneath the table. The shield was fairly large and would provide her with decent cover while still allowing her to be mobile. It was a product of one of the few defensive magics she used, though conjuring one up was a pain. Not to mention the amount of magic to make it permanent. But that was a lecture she would give Harry later.

Now with shield and wand in hand, plus the dagger stashed in her robes, Emily crouched low and made her way to the door. She debated on healing her ears, but healing took time, and she didn't wish to be caught with her pants down if Dumbledore did come charging in.

Finally at the door, with still no sign of the headmaster, Emily coiled her muscles and shot out the door, making a quick turn to find the man no where in sight. It wasn't until she heard the quiet shutting of the door to her room that Emily realized that the sly old professor had been waiting for her to leave the room so he could lock her out of it.

"Damn you, you manipulative old bastard. GET OUT OF THERE!"

She slammed her fist into the door, but she was well aware that her own enchantments now kept her out. The room would not open itself if a person was already inside. The magic didn't recognize Harry, of course, he wasn't of age. Taking a deep breath, she began the process of unweaving her enchantments on the room. Taking into consideration that Harry had been certain his headmaster would not try to meddle with his mind did little to soothe her irritation. She doubted the man would keep to that word now that he had free access to the boy and he was in no condition to defend himself. She gritted her teeth, if the man did anything to her boyfriend, she'd level Hogwarts. Horcrux hiding place or no, she would hit him where it hurt, his students. She was feeling quite petty.

* * *

Albus Dumbledore breathed a sigh of relief. His plan had been on the slippery side, but he was happy that it had worked. He was quite certain that Emily would have Harry Potter in the room with her, so all he had to do was coax her out and then enter the room himself. Banking on her paranoia, and from the magic he felt on the entrance, he figured once he closed the door she would not be able to get in. He was happy to know, judging by her frustrated screaming, that he had been correct.

The room was very sparse, but the most likely place to put a person was the large love seat that faced away from him. He approached and the sight of the young man on the piece of furniture shocked the headmaster. For while it was most definitely Harry there, he looked far different. His skin tone looked different, another shade, and he had no hair what so ever. What's more is that the boy was as naked as the day he was born. Dumbledore quickly conjured a blanket to cover the boy's modesty and then began casting several diagnostic spells. Everything was coming up clean, the boy had a perfect bill of health.

But such a radical physical difference had to indicate some sort of change, he mused. Barring the door with a large, conjured metal rod, Dumbledore attempted to reach his senses out to detect magic. It was a skill that only someone with a large amount of power or experience could manage. Both of which Dumbledore had. He was not shocked to find that Harry's body radiated magic, the boy was a wizard after all, but Dumbledore was able to peer deeper. Most of the magic was foreign, but biological, which meant either healing or potions, probably both.

Remembering that Tonks had made a comment on 'fire damage' and the obviously lack of Harry's hair, he put two and two together. Harry had been burned, and seeing as to how deep the magic felt and how it covered the entire body, he had been burned severely.

What mattered now was that the boy was in good hands. Securely wrapping the young man up in the blanket he had conjured, he levitated the boy into the air as a flash of fire signaled the arrival if Fawkes. "He'll be alright, nothing to worry about Fawkes." After consoling his phoenix, Dumbledore gently touched its plumage and both he and the floating body of Harry Potter vanished in a burst of flame.

* * *

Emily did not panic often. While few people would ever call her calm, she kept her emotions within a limited range. Mostly between seething anger and calm reticence. It was an unusual balance. But when Emily felt Harry Potter disappear from her mind, she may have gone a little overboard. Excessively. She had assumed that seeing as it was impossible to portkey and apparate in and out of her enchanted room in the mountains that she could dismantle the spells on the door. She wouldn't have to brute force her way through it and exhaust herself.

But when his presence in her mind all but vanished, Emily abandoned all pretense and just kicked the door in, the magic allowing it to happen as no one was in the room now. Rushing to the point where he disappeared she felt for the vein of magic and found unfamiliar traces she could not track. Annoyed with that, she reached into her mind, felt their connection and apparated to where she could 'feel' him.

Emily found herself being thrown onto the ground at the gates of Hogwarts. Stumbling to her feet after the jarring drop from her contact with the wards, she couldn't understand what was happening. Something that only redoubled her anger. How had Albus Dumbledore managed to disappear from one unplottable and protected area to another. Now he had Harry somewhere in there, or he could've simply taken Harry to a fireplace and flooed him elsewhere.

Taking a deep breathe Emily once again focused on their connection and sure enough did not feel Harry close by, or even in the direction of the castle. He was somewhere... near London. Emily had already had suspicions that the headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix were in London, just not where precisely. Now was a wonderful time to find out.

Emily made a series of apparitions, the first being the center of London, stopping each time to get a fix on Harry before apparating again. She didn't wish to attempted to apparate inside of a fidelius charm. Terrible things happened to those who rarely suceeded doing that without knowing the secret. She finally stood before a row of town houses. Numbers eleven and thirteen stood before her, and she could tell that the hidden building was there, though the number was escaping her. Hilarious, but the charm made it so. Alas, knowing the location and being given the secret were different things. Not even she was capable of subverting the Fidelius charm.

"He'll come to me," Emily whispered. "He'll get out and find me. I don't care if I have to stay here in London for weeks." With a snarl, Emily once again disappeared with a crack.

* * *

Bellatrix Lestrange was busy in the dungeons of Malfoy Manor with an ongoing interogation of a member of the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. More specifically, a member of the Obliviator Headquarters. Her master had tasked her with gathering more knowledge on the ministry's process of sweeping magic under the rug. Of course anyone with a skill in charms could cast a memory charm, but for something more covert, like hiding a magical civilization, sometimes extra steps could be taken.

Bellatrix lifted her wand from the man, as his screams turned to gasps. His airways had been blocked again. What an annoyance. With a sigh she cleared his throat with a flick of her wand, but before she could ask another question she was pleasantly interrupted by the arrival of her master. Normally a pleasant interruption was nigh impossible as she deeply enjoyed interrogations, but the her Lord's presence superseded all things.

"My Lord." Bellatrix immediately prostrated herself on the ground for her master. Though it was a rather shoddily kept secret, Bellatrix did not openly advertise her amorous feelings for her master. Well, not since the Dark Lord had refused and rebuked her almost two decades earlier.

Lifting her head incrementally to see her master's face, she allowed a small smile to grace her face, happy to see the woman after her absence. Her happiness blinded her briefly to her master's open hostility, but the vibrant flash of green light impacting her captive made it clear to her. Bellatrix's semi insane/happy mood took a hard turn into sobriety. It was never a guarantee that Voldemort would stop at one, after all.

When nothing was said into the roomful of silence, Bellatrix looked at the young woman before her. Though the woman had clearly gotten a great deal of her youth back, it was not her physical features that drew Bellatrix's gaze. It was not Voldemort's beauty that had called to Bellatrix in the first place, after all, it had been her power, her dominance, No other could subjugate her like this.

She could see the Dark Lord chewing the inside of her cheek, though what it meant was beyond her. Obviously she was angry, but, in retrospect, Lord Voldemort was almost always angry.

"Rise, Bellatrix. We have work to do." The young woman left the room without sparing her a single glance. The cold shoulder hurt, but she was used to it. Though the two women had never been friends, no one was friends to the Dark Lord, she felt that she was the closest person alive to that title.

She followed her master through the dark halls, being led through the mansion at a brisk pace. They made it to Lucius' office and entered silently. Bellatrix watched as her master started searching the room, turning over chairs violently after her initial looking had been fruitless.

"Where is the treasure I gave you, Bella?"

The question was just as cold as everything else, but Bellatrix's heart warmed at the old moniker. With a smile she replied, "At my vault in Gringotts, my lord. I have a key if you do not have yours, we can pick it up immediately."

"No, I need you to retrieve it without my presence. I need to start working on something before you bring it to me. I don't care what measures you must take, have it to me within two hours, understood?"

"Certainly."

Emily took a deep sigh, happy that she always had another plan in place. It would be news to most, but Horcruxes held a kind of sentience. Well, it would surprise people that the normal ones did. After all, imbuing something with a soul, even only a fragment, was the basis of creating life. Though most of the time, her Horcruxes existed as inanimate objects, should something tempt them, they were capable of interacting with people. Normally this temptation was in the form of fools who were willing to let her soul shards influence them. Young Ginny Weasley was a prime example. Though her Horcruxes were pathetic fascimiles of life, they all yearned for a more permanent existance, and Emily was curious if she could exploit this yearning to exert some form of control on them.

If she could successfully manipulate her cup, then perhaps she could do the same for the unconscious Harry Potter. After all, who puts an unconscious boy under lock and key after said boy is safe and sound. Odds are they'd toss him on a bed somewhere with minimal supervision. One person, two at the most. Easy enough for her horcrux to deal with, depending on what she could do with their connection. But she would not try anything without experimenting on another horcrux first. Would be a damn shame to try to force him to do something only to rip her soul fragment from his head.

With a deep breath, Emily turned her focus inward, feeling for her own soul. She would have to be quite in tune with herself if she were going to do this. Any loss of focus and the connection would break. To be honest, this was a little to close to possession for her to like. While she did not plan on forcing her soul into his body, like true possession, she would be using magic to strengthen the ties between their souls and then pull at the tie as hard a possible. Enough to waken the weak horcrux inside of him.

After that, all she had to do was prevent the horcrux from devouring his soul in order to give itself a fuller life. Something that Bellatrix would be assisting her with. If she could successfully awaken the cup and get it to move without the thing attacking her faithful follower, then she would be comfortable enough to try it on Harry.

* * *

Dumbledore appeared at number twelve Grimauld place through the floo. Fortunately, it was barely three in the afternoon and the headquarters were almost empty. Having already sent Fawkes off with messages to call off the search, he decided to hurry the boy up to a room before the home was flooded with people. He had barely made it to the second landing before a sharp crack told him of someone's arrival.

"HARRY! Where are you?" Sirius's frantic voice rang out through the house and Dumbledore could only sigh deeply.

"He is asleep Sirius, I am taking him up to a room. Please make your way to us." Though he spoke in a low tone, the sound somehow managed to make its way to the man's ears downstairs. The man bounded up the stairs three at a time, making little noise due to the cushioning charm he applied to his boots.

"Dear God, Albus, what happened to him?"

"I will tell you all that I know once we get him settled."

Sirius gently cradled the floating boy to him and pushed past Dumbledore on the narrow landing, making his way to the top of the house to his own room. Buckbeak, a hippogryff, was nestled in a corner and it was his presence that made Sirius pick his own room to leave Harry in.

After having lived with the magical beast for over two years, they had quite the rapport with one another. "Buckbeak, should anyone other than myself or Dumbledore," he gave a curt nod to the elderly man beside him. "come into this room and try to lay a hand on Harry, tear them apart."

As the two left the room, Dumbledore turned to Sirius. "Do you think that wise, to leave him those instructions. What if one of his friends try to sneak in and see him."

"I'll be warding the door now so that no one other than us can get in. No loopholes, someone will have to break it to get past it. Not only will I know when that happens, Buckbeak will hopefully give me enough time to at least identify the face of the intruder before he finishes them off. And I feel that if Voldemort herself somehow manages to find her way in here, well, there are no beings more fierce in this world that I trust more than that hippogryff." He gave Dumbledore a challenging look.

"You are his guardian, Sirius. It is your decision to protect him as you see fit. Though, should he awaken..." Dumbledore allowed the question to taper off.

"He'll be able to leave. Its a one way ward. Anyone inside can leave at will. Though to actually leave the house, he will have to pass through the main foyer, and I'll give Kreacher explicit instructions to not allow him to pass. Should he have any crazy ideas of going back to her."

"I know you are worried about him, Sirius, but do remember that Harry is not just a boy. He is sixteen, now, with his own goals and ideals. You may try to control his life in order to keep him from Voldemort, but in doing so, you may push him further into her grasp."

"So what, wait til he wakes up, have a nice meal, then send him on back? I doubt you brought him back here to do that. What's your plan?"

"In truth, I have none. I hope that in light of the suffering he has been through, he will realize that here is the best place for him."

"That's bullshit, and we both know it. What angle are you going to work with? You're a manipulative coot when you want to be, so what are you really planning."

Dumbledore sighed, taking a moment to gather his thoughts before answering. "I'll be honest with him. Tell him we need him here. I believe part of the reason he went with her was to learn from her, so I will extend him an offer to learn from myself. Secondly, I'll tell him of the destruction she wrought to in her attempts to save him, after the incident. Well over a hundred dead all for her desire to keep him alive and with her. It would not have happened had he not been there. He will blame himself, wrongfully, but he will. I think that hearing of all that tragedy will sway him to stay. He is a good man, Sirius. He will know what choice to make. And lastly, I will try and have all of his friends here when he wakes. He has had sparse contact with them for two months after all. Surely their presence will affect his decision as well."

Sirius nodded thoughtfully as Dumbledore explained each point. It was, in all honesty, the correct way to go about things. Dishonesty could be proven false and trying to force Harry into doing something would only brew negativity.

"You're right. Of course you are. But what exactly happened to him. Where did his hair go, why is he so pale?

"Come with me downstairs and we shall discuss my theories."

Evening came quickly that night and the headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix was nearing maximum capacity. It seemed that word spread quickly about Harry's recovery and everyone wanted to see the young man. Sirius remained firm in his decision that no one approach him however, only allowing Madame Prompfrey in to check his health, so most congregated towards the conference room, only to find it already full. The large group eventually moved to the house's largest drawing room, and after removing any potential spying portraits, Dumbledore began the night's meeting.

"Some good news, though I am certain you are all very much aware. Harry Potter has been returned to us, alive and well, and though he is in a magically induced sleep, Madame Prompfrey expects him to awaken tomorrow." Two catcalls came from the Weasley twins in the back of the room along with a smattering of applause. "While his recovery is excellent news, it means Lord Voldemort will be more volatile than ever. We can assume her first priority will be to get him back under her wing, and then sh-"

"Yeah, and odds are the boy's gonna make a break for her as soon as he's up." Alastor cut in, not giving Dumbledore a chance to speak further. "He's enamored with her. Fought against us at the ministry for her sake. Ran off to the continent with her." Giving Dumbledore a hard look he finished by asking, "So how do you plan on keeping him here?"

Dumbledore did his best to maintain his polite demeanor, but he couldn't be certain if cracks were forming. "Sirius and I have discussed several options regarding that very subject and have decided that being honest and open with Harry about his circumstances in Voldemort's care should be enough for him to realize he belongs here."

"Hah." Alastor let out a short, derisive laugh. "He's a teenager, he doesn't care about anything further than his own here and now, Albus."

"My godson is not some ordinary teenager, Mad-Eye. I don't think I need to tell anyone how I feel about his... relationship with that piece of shite woman. She killed all but one of my best friends. She's a major player in the situation that caused me to spend twelve years in Azkaban. She's a monster. I hate her more than many in this room, and that's not even accounting the suffering she has put my godson through."

"Suffering he apparently submits to."

Hearing Moody's callous remark turned Sirius's face an angry red. "Look here you old tosser, say what you will about that evil cow, but don't say a word against Harry. Its my fault he's in this god awful situation in the first place."

Many eyebrows rose at that, even Dumbledore's mouth parted in surprise. "Sirius, what do you mean?"

Sirius gave a heavy sigh, "Isn't it obvious. If I hadn't been such an idiot back then; if I had stayed to care for Harry and not ran off chasing Peter, Harry could have grown up in an actual home. With people who cared for him. Instead he spent his life being belittled by those muggles, told that he wasn't worth anything. Mistreated and abused. Of course he latched on to the first person who showed him any sort of unconditional love."

Dumbledore's calm demeanor broke then and there. His next words were shaky and filled with remorse. "If that's how you look at things, Sirius, then I should take far more responsibility. There were many families that could have taken Harry in, many who would have loved him like their own. Instead of looking out for his emotional well being, I chose his blood relatives in order to keep him safe physically. I assumed they would love him like they loved their own son and I never bothered to check in on him."

"You two can boo-hoo all you want in each others arms later. Lets get back to the matter of the boy." Moody was unwilling to let the subject drop.

"As I have stated already, Alastor, we are going to be upfront and honest. You may not agree with me now, but Harry is the greatest hope we have. We should trust him, and his judgement."

The retired auror slumped back into his chair, finally letting it go and Dumbledore resumed the meeting. He discussed several ploys that Voldemort might use to get to Harry, including taking a hostage in hopes of an exchange. All solo missions were thusly disbanded and no one would make a move without a partner. While having Voldemort's followers attempt to take them alive meant there would be less lethal danger, no one wanted to be at the mercy of her death eaters.

"Are there any more questions?"

When no one raised a topic, Dumbledore called the meeting to a close. Slowly the house started emptying. One of the members of the auror department came to him, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and started briefing him on everything that Tonks had found out so far about the Egypt debacle. She was still looking for more information, and had sent Shacklebolt with a preliminary report. It was right when the auror was wrapping up his story that thundering foot steps could be heard from the landing above, before a shrill voice called, "Albus, we have a problem."

Knowing his fellow coworker's voice, Dumbledore pushed passed Kingsley and made his way to the stairs. "What is the problem Poppy?"

"Its Harry, sir. Moody came to see the boy, said you had sent him."

"Oh dear, what has the man done this time."

"He's... well... he's obliviated the boy, Albus."

* * *

Alastor made his way up the staircase casually, well as casual as any man with a wooden leg could be. When he finally made it to Sirius' bedroom, he rapped on the door sharply. The door opened just a crack and he saw the face of Madame Promfrey.

"What's your patronus, Moody?"

"It's a bleeding turtle woman, now let me in the door. As far a security questions go, by the way, that was rubbish. I was in the field for years, Poppy, plenty of Death Eaters know my patronus."

The matron opened the door fully, allowing him to enter. "Does Dumbledore need something?" she asked, as she returned to her patient.

"Not from you, no. But I need you to leave the room."

"I will not. This boy is my patient, Moody. I will remain here until I have checked him fully."

"Aye, I'm aware. Still I need you to leave so I can check the boy for dark magic. You're a healer Poppy, and thats all well and good, but you don't have the knowledge that I do on what that harpy may have done to him. I'll be pulling any and all dark magics out of him, and you being in the same room is going to attract that magic, hence why I need you to leave. Dumbledore's orders. Make sure he is stable, then give me fifteen minutes alone with the lad."

She stared at him hard, and for a moment he thought his bluff had fallen through. Finally she spoke, "Fine then. But hear me now, should that boy be harmed in any way, I'll hang you out to dry. Do you understand?"

"Aye, he's in safe hands. Should something go amiss, I've enough field medic training to keep him alive long enough for you to get back in here."

She made her way to the door, before turning one last time, "Fifteen minutes, Moody. You'd best be done by then or you'll have to wait until he recovers." With a soft click, he was now alone with a hippogryff and a teenager. The beast eyed him warily, but after having been told to stand down earlier by Sirius earlier when Poppy entered, he did not make any aggressive moves.

"Sorry about this, Potter. If you were any other lad attracted to any other lass, it would be a different story. But its not. Best get to it." Kneeling next to the bed, he whispered, "Legilimens."

At first it was easy, working backwards all he had to do was sever the links of the entire thing. Boy would have no clue what happened the past two months, but he'd be better off for it. Things got trickier once he hit the ministry. One memory in particular wouldn't sink into the depths no matter how much magic he forced at it. Some memories were like that, cornerstones of a person's life, so vital to their existence that they were far harder to detach. Were Moody more capable in the art of memory charms he may have been able to sever it, but he was more combat oriented. Needless to say, the memory involved the couple doing some highly inappropriate things inside the Department of Mysteries.

Moody had planned for this however, knowing where his strengths lie, he knew that some memories would prove to be too strong for him. Because of that, he had to alter the memory, at least on the surface. He had to change the setting, instead of a foggy darkened room in the ministry, he changed it to a steam laden prefect's bathroom in Hogwarts. Fortunately the memory was blurry enough thanks to the heat of the moment, and pink fumes, that it wasn't difficult to obscure the girl's face.

Moody kept at it, though two more times he had come across memories that were so significant or potent that they could not be removed from their shackles inside his head. Well at least Harry wouldn't be forgetting his first time though once again, the details would be sketchy. The final hurdle for the old auror was the last memory, or first, rather. One where Emily Riddle reveals herself to not be a muggle, but the dark lord. Hard to obscure a memory that held so many different emotions attached to it. Rage, despair, anger and nervousness mixed in with small amounts of practically everything else.

He found himself expanding on this Emma person. Altered Emily's appearance in the latter part of the memory to match Emma's. Completely wiped out the audio of their screaming match, leaving only the emotions. There was only so much one could do with such a complex memory after all. Of course, the three altered memories weren't truly changed memories, just fakes layered over top. But when Harry tried to think back onto those times, the links of his memories would lead him to the alterations, while the real memories rested below. Even if Harry Potter did manage to recover the three cornerstone memories, he wouldn't be able to touch the rest. The only ones who could link them up would be Voldemort or Moody himself, and he would be taking steps to assure that he himself would never do the deed. Therefore, as long as Albus kept the boy away from the dark lord, all would be well.

* * *

Harry Potter woke with a massive migraine. The pain in his head was pounding at the edges of his skull, and when he opened his eyes, the dim light of the room sent even more signals of pain through his cranium. Mustering up the will to open his eyes again forced a pained his through his teeth and he heard a familiar voice call to him.

"Slow down, love, drink this."

Opening his mouth, he allowed the person to pour the liquid down his throat, not even tasting whatever it was. Fortunately for him, it was not poison and the horrible pain receded to a dull throb. Opening his eyes he made out a blurry figure.

"My glasses," he choked out. His voice was raspy as though he hadn't used it in days. His glasses were handed to him and he was delighted to see Emily sitting on the bed beside him.

"What happened?"

She smiled at him, gently running her hand down his left cheek, "Nothing of any real consequence. Relax. You've been through a great deal, recently. Let's not dwell on it."

His mind was filled with questions, but even though the pain had faded to almost nothing, he was surprised at how terrible he felt. Not pained, just... terrible.

"Here, I have a little something special for you, or rather, two special somethings for you."

Waving her wand, two boxes flew into the room, wrapped in bright green paper. Gifts. Harry was not surprised by this. His birthday had slipped from her mind the week before, and she had remembered too late, when Dobby had delivered him a handful of packages from home. When she apologized to him for her slip of mind, he had told her it was fine, after all, he wasn't really used to his birthday being a happy affair.

He knew that his attempts to soothe her conscience had only made her feel worse, as she would undoubtedly compare herself to the Dursleys, but there wasn't much he could do other than tell her everything was fine. So when she handed him the first gift, (a small box, barely bigger than a jewelry box) while wishing him a happy belated birthday, he smiled graciously and thanked her whole heartedly. Gently opening the gift, he was happy to see a golden snitch resting in the felt on the inside.

"Regulation Snitch used for professional matches. I thought you might like it?" Her statement sounded more like a question, and Harry quickly told her that he loved it. He may have put it on a little too thick as she rolled her eyes dramatically at him, but he truly did like it.

"Now for your second gift, Merry belated Christmas, love."

Harry was floored by this one. Though he would never forget that Christmas, he was shocked that she was bringing it up so many months later. Remembering the silver band he had gotten her and his promise to stay by her side did bring a smile to his face. Which turned to a ridiculously red blush when he remembered her subsequent proposal. Marriage, at fifteen, she had gone daft. Her gift to him had been a week long story on her life, because his only desire was to get to know her better. She had written him pages upon pages of secret notes on their magical parchment every day. Why on earth did she feel the need to get him a gift now?

"Not that I'm not happy for it, but what gives? We already exchanged Christmas gifts... like months ago."

"Yes, but that was last year. This is for this year."

"Shouldn't that mean you should hold onto this for a few more months?"

Her mouth popped open in a small 'o' shape, to which he just continued to stare at her.

"Earth to Emily, you still there?"

"Yes, you prat, can you tell me what day it is?"

Harry wasn't an idiot, he could already make a firm guess as to what was going on. She had told him when he awoke that he had been through a lot. 'A lot' was something that he didn't really remember, aside from pyramid raiding.

"I haven't the foggiest idea."

"Its December twenty-seventh, love. Happy holidays."

A/N: Sorry for the delay everyone. Picked up a handful of hobbies and haven't found much time to write. Getting back to it now though, so I hope you're as eager as I am to get back into it.


	8. Chapter 8

A/

Chapter 8

Harry Potter woke with a massive migraine. The pain in his head was pounding at the edges of his skull, and when he opened his eyes, the dim light of the room sent even more signals of pain through his cranium. Mustering up the will to open his eyes again forced a pained his through his teeth and he heard a familiar voice call to him.

"Slow down, Harry, drink this."

Opening his mouth, he allowed the person to pour the liquid down his throat, not even tasting whatever it was. Fortunately for him, it was not poison and the horrible pain receded to a dull throb. Opening his eyes he made out a blurry figure.

"My glasses," he choked out. His voice was raspy as though he hadn't used it in days. When the blurry figure handed him his glasses he was pleased to Mrs. Weasley seated next to the bed he was in.

"Thanks."

"Harry, dear, how are you feeling?"

"Now, I feel fine. But a few moments ago... felt like a tango line of trolls were stomping on my brain."

The Weasley matriarch smiled at him, and Harry was honestly glad to see her, but something just wasn't right.

"What exactly happened to me, Mrs. Weasley?"

"To be honest Harry, I'm not too sure. Apparently, Alastor Moody hit you with a memory charm and you've been out for a couple of days. Though you were unconscious when we finally found you either way, so not much change there. But you're home now, and thats what matters."

"Professor Moody... memory charmed me? What for? Why aren't I in the hospital wing?"

"Calm down Harry. Rest. You are safe now. I can't go into the details about the memory charm, Dumbledore wants to discuss that with you himself. As for why you are in the Order's headquarters, that is because the school term has been over for quite some time. In fact, next term begins in two weeks."

"Oh, wow. So... no more Dursleys I take it?"

"Well, when they were informed that you no longer needed to remain at their home, they didn't seem quite eager to prevent you from leaving. Sirius was able to gather all of your belongings and move them into his house."

"His house? I thought that this w-"

"Oh heavens no. Sirius loathes this place, he isn't shy about telling that to others either. He bought a quaint little home out in the country side for the two of you. Bill and Dumbledore warded the place themselves and they've even cast a Fidelius charm on the place, though no one knows who the secret keeper is."

"Probably Dumbledore."

"No, I'm afraid we know its not him. A soul can only hide one thing at a time, you see, so if Dumbledore is already the secret keeper for this old hovel, well, he can't be the one for your new home."

Harry had to admit he liked the sound of that, his new home. Sirius was free now. Sirius was free, but... how did that happen. Harry clenched his eyes trying to think back. He remembered that Sirius was free, remembered reading in the prophet that the man had been free, but... he couldn't pull any more details.

"Sorry, Mrs. Weasley, but how did Sirius get cleared of those murders?"

Mrs. Weasley's face blanched somewhat at the last word, but to her credit, explained what he wanted to know without a stutter.

"Someone delivered Peter Pettigrew's body to the ministry with a note informing the Magical Law Enforcement that your godfather was innocent. After testing the body, and finding it to only be, well, recently deceased, they reopened your godfather's case. He was given a trial with a truth potion and walked out a free man not even an hour later."

"Yeah... yeah, I knew that." And he did. The information was in his head, but for the life of him, he could not recall how it got there.

"Of course you do, dear. Now, I'm gonna kip down stairs to get you a nice bowl of stew. I'll be right back." Harry watched as the woman bustled out of the room. The door hadn't even had a chance to close before two figures slipped inside.

"Oy mate, how are you?"

"Oh Harry, why must you always be getting into trouble? Especially when we aren't there to help you out of it."

His two best friends, Ron and Hermione, made their way to him, and he couldn't help but smile. Though to him it had only been a few hours since he had seen them last, for some odd reason it felt like far longer. "I'm alright, you guys. Little mixed up in the head, but alright."

"I heard what Professor Moody did to you, Harry. I've struggled with myself not to hex the man every time I see him. I can't believe the nerve he had to-"

"Geez, Hermione, give it a rest. You've been going on and on about that forever. It happened, big deal, its done now. Harry's back now, and we don't have to worry about You-know-who right now?"

"Emily? What's she got to do with this?"

Both of his friends mouth's dropped as their stared at him, incredulously. "Harry, do you, well, do you remember her?"

"Of course, she killed my parents. Not really gonna forget that."

"Well yes, but you called her Emily, not Voldemort..." Harry heard her trail off, but didn't pay it any mind. It was true, he had called her by her given name, not by her moniker. Why? Why had he done that? Heck, he couldn't even remember where he had heard the name Emily, though he knew her name to be Emmeline from his second year.

"Okay, guys. I hate to play the best friend card, but Moody's scrubbed my brain clean. What happened?"

"Well, Harry, you actu- Guhhh!" Ron had just been about to dive straight into it when Hermione's elbow nailed him in the side. Ron shot her a dark look and the started whispering to one another, something that was completely useless as Harry was close enough to hear every word.

"Blimey, Mione, what was that for?"

"We aren't supposed to tell him anything. Dumbledore said he would do it."

"If Dumbledore's gonna tell him anyway, whats it matter if we tell him some of it now?"

"Because we were _told_ not to." She tried to stare him down, but he was easily six inches taller and she seemed to be failing.

"Look, I'm gonna tell my best mate what he wants to know. You don't want to be part of it, then you know where the door is."

"Its not that I don't want to be a part of it, its just tha-"

"Good, no problem then."

"Ronald Weasley, don't you dare cut me off like that."

"Oh come off it Hermione, Dumbledore doesn't want us to say anything because he's not gonna tell Harry everything. But we're there for him, right? Its up to us to be honest with him, right?"

"Of course it is. But I really don't think Dumbledore's planning on not telling Harry the truth. I think Dumbledore knows more than we do and doesn't want Harry only getting part of the story. And then go off and do something insanely moronic. Like he normally does." She gave him a pointed look and Harry raised his hands in surrender.

"Look I promise not to go off the handle 'til I've spoken to Dumbledore, but until then, fill me in."

Hermione gave a sigh, muttering, "Honestly." She then gave Ron a jerk of the head which Harry assumed meant, 'well get on with it, then', as she went to lean against the wall.

"Harry... you've been off boffing You-know-who."

"RONALD!" Hermione sprang up from the wall flailing her arms at him, "You insensitive prat! Go over there, I'll tell him."

Harry, meanwhile, had frozen stiff. Surely he had misheard. While he did remember having sex months ago, surely it hadn't been with Emmiline Riddle. Rather, who had it been with? It was a girl, he knew that of course, but it was blurry, out of focus. The details wouldn't come to him no matter how hard he focused.

"Earth to Harry? Are you there?" Hermione's gentle nagging pulled him from his hidden thoughts with an articulate, "Huh?"

"Some way, some how, you and Voldemort, or Emily as you apparently call her, got into some kind of relationship. A serious one. We don't know all the details, but it was serious enough for you to run away with her to the continent."

His eyes widened to dinner plates, "What? I went, to like France or Spain or something?"

"Well, they found you in Asia, and before that, they heard you were in Egypt."

"Hah, oh wow. You two are having me on right now, aren't you. The twins are in on it too. Where are they at?"

"Harry, look, I know its hard to get," Ron said. "But please, trust us, it all happened. The two of you broke into the ministry together and then you guys high tailed it over seas. Look here." Ron pulled out a small leatherbound book, not too disimilar from the diary he remembered from his second year. He opened the page and show Harry some of the passages, and Harry recognized his own script.

"Most of the time you used some weird magic to talk to us through this thing, but you sometimes you just wrote us notes."

"It was similar to a muggle television, just in black and white." Hermione chimed in.

"Okay, so what are we talking about here? Love potion, maybe the imperius?"

The two looked at him sadly. "No. We asked Dumbledore those very things and he said that it was really just love."

"So I fell in love with Emily." Harry sat up in his bed straighter, but at that moment the door opened and Mrs. Weasley entered with a steaming bowl on a tray. The woman narrowed her eyes at his frozen friends, as if somehow knowing they had been telling him things he wasn't supposed to know. "Right, well you two have seen that Harry is fine now, Ron can I ask you to degnome the garden. Hermione, if you could keep an eye on him while he does it?"

Ron groaned, but Hermione pursed her lips, "Mrs. Weasley, we aren't at the Burrow. I doubt there are gnomes in the middle of London."

"Oh." The woman was flustered as the normal way to clear a roomful of children backfired. "Well then, do go and enjoy yourselves elsewhere, Harry needs his rest."

The two looked at one another and Harry could tell they were thinking of how best to defy the woman before them without getting into much trouble. Harry, deciding he had enough information at present saved them the trouble. "I'm actually kind of knackered you guys. I'll just eat this and have a nap." He gave them a look trying to convince them to just go, though he couldn't be sure they had understood him or just ran when the opportunity presented itself. Either way, they left.

"I hope they didn't bother you too much Harry."

"Of course not, Mrs. Weasley. Ron and Hermione, we've been through it all together. I was happy to see them."

* * *

Albus Dumbledore pulled himself from the fireplace at Number twelve Grimmauld place. He had heard from Molly, via a patronus, that Harry was awake. He had much to discuss with the boy, in particular to find out just how much of his memories had Alastor tampered with. He didn't want the young man to panic and had asked everyone not to mention anything to him until he had explained everything he could. After all, the boy was bound to have somethings missing upstairs and Dumbledore was probably the only who knew enough to fill in those blanks, even if he couldn't completely do so. It was such a shame that there was no simple fix to this problem. After all, Alastor had performed some dangerous magic on himself after altering Harry's memories. His old friend was a patient of the long term spell damage ward and no one knew if the old auror would get better.

He quickly arrived at Harry's bedroom and gently knocked. The door opened weakly for him and he eased himself inside. Molly was making her way to the door, politely giving the two of them some privacy. As she left the room, he placed himself in the seat she had vacated and looked at the young man before him.

Though Albus had been alive for well over a hundred years, he was often still staggered by time's passage. Had it truly only been two months ago that he had seen this young man consciously looked at him. Though he was both happy and sad that the boy's gaze was as trusting as it used to be. Happy because the boy had faith in him and sad because that faith may not be true.

Noticing the empty bowl clasped in Harry's hands, he vanished it and the silverware before asking the most loaded question he would probably ask that night.

"Good to have you back with us, Harry, Sorry to press right into everything, but how much do you know about what has been going on lately?" Simple, direct and hopefully Harry would be forthcoming with all that he knew."

"Absolutely nothing, sir. Its all a blank." Harry's face was almost perfectly believable, but Albus had been an educator of teenagers for decades, he could sense when his students were being less than truthful.

"Nothing at all? Are you certain?" It was a light amount of pressure, but he knew Harry would understand his meaning. Harry was wise beyond his years after all.

"Nothing more than what Ron and Hermione have filled me in on."

'Ah', he thought. So his two friends struggled with keeping secrets from him. Good to know those two would stand behind him through thick and thin, even when asked not to.

"I had asked them not to speak to you of it, as they know rather little. I have not disclosed all that I know of your situation to them in order to protect your privacy." Albus knew he was laying it on a bit thick. Everyone knew he had kept the boy's best friends as far away from the situation as possible so he could shelter them from the full truth. Though he had only told them the simplest truth, that Harry had, somewhat willingly, entered a romantic relationship with Lord Voldemort, he had left it at that.

"Is it true then? Was I, er, dating Em- Voldemort?"

Albus took note of the way the boy had almost used the woman's given name. One could charm memories, but habits formed through repetition would remain. Time to find out what was habit and what was truly there.

"Yes, Harry. You were. And thought it may shock you, that love was reciprocated in full."

"But sir, there's no way..."

As he watched the boy trail off, Albus felt a stab of sympathy for him. At the end of the day, Harry was just a boy. As much as he viewed the child before him as an adult, Harry Potter was still young. Still in school. But fate seemed to pile on the misery for him. Just when things were finally going his way, at least in Harry's eyes, even if Albus disagreed, things happened and his good fortune turned.

"We have two options, Harry." Albus decided to do right by Harry, even if it meant going over Sirius' head to do so. The man would be livid, knowing Albus offered Harry this choice, but he felt he owed it to the boy.

"Option one, you can remain here for a few days, reconnect with your friends and loved ones. Then return to Hogwarts when term begins. Treat all of this like a bad dream." Harry was looking at him now, questioningly, wondering what on earth option two could entail.

"Or, we can contact Emmeline Riddle. Only she can restore your memories. Though she will not be willing to come to us to do so, we would have to hand you over to her." Harry's eyes widened as far as they could go.

"Professor, you can't be serious. I can't... I can't just walk up to Voldemort and be like, 'Hey, can you fix my head, because I might have been in love with you?' Professor, I can still remember my first year when she tried to kill me. Not to mention second year when her diary tried to kill me. And lets not forgot the end of the tournament in my fourth year, when she... she..." He watched as the boys hands cupped his head gingerly.

"There was a graveyard, and Peter was there. He had, her, or something that had part of her in it. Wrapped up in a bundle." He was clutching his head in both of his hands now, knuckles slowly turning white and he gripped harder. "He dropped the thing in a giant cauldron, and... she came back." The last phrase was whispered.

Albus was shocked. Until now this information had been hidden away by Voldemort's own memory charm. What could have possibly happened that allowed the memory to resurface?

Perhaps, he thought wryly, Emily had out thought them all. If Harry had disclosed his previous attempts to memory charm him, she may have made some contingency plans of her own. By spelling his memories to return when more charms were placed on him, she at least had some kind of foot hold left in him. Though just the memory alone was not enough to solve the problem, odds are she felt herself capable of stealing him away quickly. Enough so that with the singular memory he did have, he might trust her enough to allow her to remove the charms.

There was no sense in wondering about what if at this stage. He questioned Harry at length about all he could remember about the circumstances of her return. Just as the boy finished tellling him about the kiss that led to him knocking himself out, Dumbledore began connecting some dots. Fortunately when memory's resurface, they are extremely fresh so Harry was aware of almost everything that went on that night, and now, Dumbledore did as well.

She had told him, 'I am simply revising some plans, Harry. Some things have gone awry and I'm not sure how to deal with them.' More than likely she was speaking to him of the connection they had due to the horcrux in his head. She was unprepared for it, perhaps she hadn't even known it existed prior. It was all falling into place now. The whole picture was clearing. Her connection with him inspired their romance. What's more is that is seemed to be most unwilling, at least at first. Harry had previously told him that their first meeting that he knew of had been during the summer. She was disguised as a young muggle and had attempted to seduce him.

Albus finally knew that Emily Riddle had no grand scheme. Well, she did, but hers did not revolve around Harry Potter. He was a sudden wrench, thrown at her from nowhere, and she adapted as well as she could. Of course, all the facts still remained, but this singular piece of knowledge spoke volumes. Harry had been correct when he had told him month ago, that he was able to change her. He had already started doing so the moment she returned. She just hadn't realized it yet.

Oh what to do, what to do. Wouldn't it all be so perfect, to allow Harry to reunite with the woman he loved, to regain his memories and be happy for the rest of his life. Was that scenario not what Dumbledore fervently wished for above all other things? But still, Emily Riddle was not good for Harry Potter, despite how good he was for her. She was a killer, and whats worse, she had taught him how to be as well. Though Harry had never taken a life, he did have the weapons to do so, and all of them had been handed to him by her.

Emily would not stop her war on the magical world to establish her dominance. Even if he were to dangle Harry in front of her as though he were a treat, she would not come to heel. And to willingly place a young man in that situation was something he could not do in good conscience, not without his approval. Judging by his shocked expression on his face, he had found the idea to be terrible.

"I suppose the best choice for you would be to return to Hogwarts, Harry. While Emily will most assuredly come for you sooner or later, it would not do to waste your education. Not to mention, you will be safe at Hogwarts."

"Tch, doubt it."

The response was muted, but Albus picked it up all the same. "Do you feel unsafe at Hogwarts, Harry?"

"First year had the stone, second year had the basilisk, third year had dementors and my fourth had a direct confrontation with Voldemort herself. It's not like we're par for the course, professor."

"In truth, you are correct. As much as I am afraid to say it, I as an educator have failed you in many ways, the most important of which is how often I allow you to fall into danger under my supervision."

"I don't blame you for it, professor. Heck, I walk into most of them by my own will. Tried to save the stone, tried to save Ginny, then tried to save my Godfather. Heh, maybe I just have a problem."

"Nonsense Harry, if we all had problems like that, there would be no such things as Dark Lords. You aren't the problem Harry, you are the solution. Never doubt yourself." The boy gave him a smile and a brief expression of gratitude, before yawning widely.

"I think its time I let you get some rest, Harry. No need to worry, we will deal with these problems as they arrive. Sleep well."

Harry wasn't even able to respond as his eyes shut of their own accord. Dumbledore got up to leave the room when the door cracked and he saw Sirius' face through the jam. Meeting the man outside, Albus was eager to move whatever impending conversation was due away from Harry while he was resting.

"So how bad's the damage, Albus?"

"Everything pertaining to Lord Voldemort is gone, save for their encounter in the graveyard. That was mysteriously restored during the placement of the charms."

"Odd. Do you think the charms interfered with one another."

"There is no precedence for that conclusion, so I doubt it. More than likely it is Emmeline's doing. A way to allow them some form of familiarity should this scenario happen."

"Kind of a random contingency plan, wouldn't you say?"

"Yes, indeed it is, but Emmeline is nothing if not thorough. I'm fairly certain it is her doing."

"Well as long as the memory isn't too extravagant, no worries. We can ship him off Hogwarts while I track down that insidious little snake and kill her myself."

"Rash decisions lead men to ruin Sirius. You have a responsibility to Harry now. You are his guardian, and as such, you need to be there for him. Chasing down Emmeline will more than likely rob you of that ability."

"So I what, wait for her to show up?"

"Sirius, please understand that if you were to be personally hunt down Voldemort, and kill her, what would we do should Harry retain his memories? What if he held you responsible for killing her."

"Well I guess he'd never speak to me again, but that's a price I should be willing to pay."

"But are you?"

Albus knew he had won the conversation. Harry was the last vestige the man had of James, his best friend. He would never do something to turn Harry away from him, even if that something avenged his friends deaths.

"We shall find a way, Sirius. I promise."

"How?" Sirius' voice was flat. "If we can't kill her, and she refuses to stop, what should we do? Hell, even if she agreed to a peaceful surrender, are we to just let her go, after all she has done? She's decimated the magical community, sir. Beyond all measure. Wiped out entire families. How exactly is all this supposed to end?"

The question was one that he had no answer to. He had been pondering it for the longest time, coming to the conclusion that he himself would have to strike down Emmeline Riddle. If she were to lay her conquest to rest however, Dumbledore wondered what he would do then. He didn't see himself capable of striking her down if she had given up. He hadn't been able to kill Gellert all those years ago when the man had thrown his wand to the side at the end of their duel, and Grindewald had commited many atrocities in that war.

Looking to the ceiling, he decided that should the impossible be made possible, should Harry convince Voldemort to stop, then he would tell the two to disappear. Vanish as well as they were able and be happy.

As the last few weeks of summer break came to a close, Harry found himself to be the odd one out at Grimauld place. Though Sirius always acted happy when speaking to him, Harry felt an undercurrent of bitterness in the man. Same with almost every single other person in the house, save three. Ron and Hermione of course, those two would stand by him til the world ended. Most surprisingly to him however was the stalwart friendship of Ginny Weasley. As though she did not blame him for falling in love with the person who put her through hell in her first year. If anyone had shown him irrational hatred for the romance he didn't even recall, he would have understood it best from Ginny.

If anything, she seemed even more at ease with him, and he was downright flummoxed why. At first he thought she felt a kinship with him, that she felt that they had both been used by Voldemort for something. But when he casually brought it up, she called him a moron and told him that she was completely aware that the two of them had been quite in love with one another. The rebuke had him think over it for the longest time, before he remembered their shared conversation over the Christmas holidays.

 _"Is she good for you?"_

 _"No... But I'm good for her. She needs me."_

 _"You would be good for anyone. And other people need you. What's so special about her?"_

" _She's an incredible girl, Ginny. I can see that. Just because she may not be the best person out there for me, doesn't mean that she's not the girl I want to be with."_

" _I'm glad that you've found someone to be with, Harry. Even more so that you think so highly of her... But if things don't work out between the two of you, don't get too down. I know of at least one girl who'd love to spend time with you."_

He couldn't pin down precisely what it was that earned him her goodwill. Was it the fact that she knew more about... things, than the rest? Was it her feeling for him that kept him in the clear? He couldn't be sure, but he was happy to have dodged the bullet with her. It totaled to three people he didn't feel resented by.

For several days now, he had been noticing the strangest of things out of the corner of his eye. Fluttering curtains when there was no draft. His room being cleaner than when he left it. A house elf was keeping tabs him. He was certain that he had seen the creature many times out of the corner of his eye, only to turn around and the area be empty. Oh well, he would ask his friend Dobby at Hogwarts if there was a way to tell. God forbid Emily had sent one of her follower's elves to abduct him. He doubted an elf could get into Grimauld place while it was under the Fidelius charm, but he wasn't sure. He knew they had strange and powerful magic, but he had no clue as to their limitations. He had debated bringing the issue up to Sirius but decided against it. The man was already agitated enough and even though he would always smile cheerfully at Harry and greet him warmly, Harry didn't want to put something else on his plate.

The next day, when he boarded the Hogwarts express, he couldn't imagine how strange the next few months would be. How out of place everything felt. How... strangely hollow he would begin feeling on the inside. But for now, he pulled himself onto the train and went to find his mates.

* * *

Emily continued her fervent research with her horcrux. There was always a way. If there wasn't, she would make one. She could not be thwarted here.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 8 was posted a few minutes ago, don't skip over it. Chapter 7 was posted hours ago.

Chapter 9

Emily had been attempting for days to influence her horcrux, to no avail. Though it had been a long shot, she had been arduously at the task, as it was probably the only shot she had at springing him out of a fidelius charm. The private time she spent with the magical item did allow her to expand her control of it somewhat. She felt reasonably confident she could converse with Harry easily enough, should he allow his Occlumency training to weaken, despite distance. She hadn't stopped at just a single plan however. She had attempted several things, including an attempted kidnapping of several members of the Order. One could always hope for a hostage trade after all.

The closest attempt she had made was one the third day of her return to Britain. After another failed attempt in manipulating her cup, she began reaching for straws. Though she was loathe to admit it, she had attempting summoning the free elf, Dobby, and to her shock, she succeeded. Though she was repulsed to ask the little toe rag for help, she would take any sort of assistance she could get. She was overjoyed to hear that he was capable of going into the Order's headquarters, but then she violently exploded at the elf when it refused to bring Harry back to her.

"Dobby isn't sure that where you are, is where the great Harry Potter should be."

She'd have killed the elf right there had she been able to get to her wand, but the hideous creature actually summoned the wand to him. A horrible crime as there were countless laws against that, but she doubted she'd be going into the ministry to report it. The crazy elf knew that too.

"You know he wants to be with me. Why go against him? Do you not have any loyalty for one you hold in such high esteem?"

"Loyalty is not what's in question here, miss. Dobby has often done things that Harry Potter has disliked to protect him. Dobby is a free elf."

"I am disgustingly aware of your status as a free elf. Harry has informed me of that more than once."

"Harry Potter sir, speaks of Dobby. Harry Potter is a great wizard to remember an elf like Dobby."

"Nonsense. You've been more of an aid to him than a hindrance. I am ashamed to admit it, but somehow, he actually likes you."

Though she hadn't meant to compliment the elf, though Dobby's reaction had rendered him almost hysterical. But once he calmed down, he did agree to keep an eye on him for her. He returned hours later with the news she had been dreading. They had obliviated him. She could only curse herself for starting the whole mess with memory charms. Apparently the circumstances around it were not the intentions of Dumbledore, but she doubted that. The old man had in some way, shape or form, been behind removing her from her lover's mind. When she pressured the elf again that she needed Harry to be returned to her, the elf simply disappeared with a crack. For a moment she thought he had gone to retrieve him for her, but as the minutes passed, she knew he had decided to leave now that his information had been passed along.

So she had resumed her attempts with the horcrux, though the attempts had been getting her no where. If things kept going like they were she would have to make her play at Hogwarts. Though that would be a nightmare, in and of itself. To make a terrible situation even worse, the elf had told her that Harry was, by and large, ostricized by the members of the Order. This she had expected, after all, the Order was an organization built to oppose her. It was only natural that Harry be treated differently after running off with her. He did have three strong bonds remaining, two of which she did not mind. It was the newest addition to his close friends that she loathed.

Little Ginevra Weasley was trying to make a name for herself. Though the house elf had not gone into depth, Emily didn't need it to know what the ginger harlot was doing. Harry was probably feeling terribly lost and confused right now with months missing from his head, and who better to console him than a readily available lass his own age. A pretty one to boot. Dumbledore has lined his pieces up perfectly, she thought. Smug bastard thinks all the pawns are going to do as he wishes, he'd better just wait and see what her plans were for that girl. When she was through with the youngest Weasley, her parents wouldn't even be able to stomach the sight of what was left.

She had several plans in the works for getting him out of Hogwarts. Most involving some of her followers kidnapping him. She had already tasked Draco Malfoy with the task to secure her and her followers an entrance into the castle. A subtle one anyway, God knows she could simply blow a hole in the wall and walk inside.

Of course, all of those plans were for the future. They may all not even be needed, if she managed to snag him off the train platform today.

* * *

Harry and his friends arrived at King's Cross at the closest time imaginable. Normally it was the youngsters who had trouble in the morning, but this time it was the parents and guardians. Harry wasn't stupid, he knew he was a security risk, either him running off again or Voldemort aiming to get him. He knew they were just aiming to get him onto to the express and get the express moving before anything could go awry.

A part of him wondered, 'Why take the train at all? Why the risk?' When he brought this up to Dumbledore directly, the man was open with him.

"We had originally planned to get you to Hogwarts in a more secure manner, however, we are hoping Emily gets a bit too eager to get you and we might be able to get our hands on her."

"So... I'm bait?"

"Precisely, but there will be no need to worry. I'll be hexing your clothing for that day, no spatial travel will be possible. So unless Emily swoops from the sky to pick you up on a broom, there will be no way for her to run off with you."

He wasn't certain how he felt about being bait for a dark lord, but then again it didn't really matter. As long as she wanted him, he would always be a bait for her. She would follow him wherever he went. Might as well help out where he could. He had been verbally drilled repeatedly over a number of different procedures for today and he felt confident that he would not be in any danger. Besides, with the number of aurors present, she'd have to be off of her rocker to try and get him here.

"Oof, excuse me miss, didn't see y-"

He lost the ability to speak quite quickly as the blonde woman he bumped into grabbed him around the middle and, with a quick levitation charm on him, ran pell-mell for the platform entrance. The woman in question was covering ground quickly, her red eyes focus on the brick wall that would surely signal the edge of the wards where she could apparate him away. He began flailing about, but the levitation charm had stolen away his control over his mass and power and he was ignored by her. The blonde wig fell off in her haste and the pitch black locks soaked in much of the surrounding light that it was the only thing he could see. There were mere feet away from her destination when Harry felt Emily falter. Harry, in his sense of panic, hadn't realized they'd both been hit with a stunner until they crashed to the floor and he realized he struggled to move. A second stunner followed, slamming into the woman's back as she tried to struggle towards him. Since the stunner was not spread across two bodies, it work properly and the woman slumped to the ground.

Harry jerked his head towards the direction of the spell and was relieved to see the stern face of Albus Dumbledore approaching. "Tonks, Shacklebolt, detain her. Come along, Mr. Potter we must get you to safety. She may have her followers stationed nearby."

Dumbledore helped him up swiftly, suprising Harry with his strength and started to help him towards the platform gate. "Just a bit further, Mr. Potter. Once we are back in the Muggle side of King's Cross, I can apparate us to headquarters. Then we are just a floo away from Hog-"

Harry wrenched himself free of the elderly man, breathing heavily. "Professor Dumbledore has never called me Mr. Potter to my face... Emily."

Harry knew he had hit the nail on the head when his professor's normally kind face twisted into a sneer/ "Damnit all, Harry. Why do you pick the worst time to be so bloody observant?" With that the faux headmaster bolted towards the exit. Harry's head hadn't even settled from the jostling before he felt a cool pair of hands touch his shoulders. He turned to see Ginny Weasley standing behind him, with her family and various Order members closing in fast.

"Are you alright, Harry?"

His answer was interrupted by Emily's spell. "Accio Harry." He once again found himself pulled through the area towards the facsimile of his headmaster as Emily made her way through the barrier and he fumbled through air towards her. It seemed that instead of dragging him along with her physically she was going to use magic. This time, however, he had a tag along. Ginny had managed to leap towards his flying body, grabbing hold of his shoe with a vice like grip. Good lord, he had to convince her to try out for Quidditch if she was that fast. They both tumbled out of the brick wall together and Harry was immediately pulled to his feet, only to see a silent blasting curse send Ginny slamming into the stone wall. The smack turned his stomach, and the blood that remained on the wall when her body limply fell to the ground ignited a rage inside of him.

Pulling back his arm as far as he could, he laid his fist into Emily/Dumbledore's crooked nose with every ounce of force he could muster. He was so livid he couldn't even feel satisfaction from the sound of the bone snapping and the blood rushing from the old face.

"Thats the third time you've punched me in the face, love." She said wrapping a hand around his arm. "We are leaving." And with a sharp crack, Harry was alone. He immediately ran towards Ginny, rushing past the Weasley family who had been so absorbed in watching him slug what appeared to be the headmaster that they hadn't noticed their youngest member's injuries.

Already there were a handful of muggle bystanders near the young girl. One had even started checking her vitals when Harry slid down next to her on his knees. Paying no heed to the non-magical audience, Harry pulled out his wand and started healing her with the first spell on his mind.

" _Parfractum."_ He turned green as he heard the bones snapping into place and he started gently rolled her body over. He vanished her top, and her modesty was thankfully preserved by her camisole, though Harry cared less for that than the large amount she was bleeding. He started mending the tears in her skin where she had made contact with the wall knowing that the magic would also stop the bleeding. He could only hope the injuries to her skull would be just as simply taken care of. The muggles looked on in amazement as he struggled trying to remember every healing spell he'd ever been taught, which was so very difficult as he couldn't remember learning them in the first place. Thankfully the knowledge was there and he was fairly certain, less than a minute later, that Ginny Weasley wasn't going to die today.

He had been so focused on helping her he didn't realize that Ron, Molly and the twins were standing behind him. Arthur Weasley was with several other ministry officials and aurors, running damage control, odds are he didn't even know his daughter had been caught up in the whole mess. The Weasley matriarch looked at him, openly shedding tears.

"Oh thank heavens you were here, Harry. The most I've ever done healing wise are scrapes and cuts and a bottle of Skelo-Gro." She was blubbering almost incoherently. "I'd have been lost right now, no clue of what to do."

Harry didn't bother mentioning that it was his fault Ginny had been hurt in the first place. Had he put his foot down on the whole 'bait' idea, this could've been avoided. Had Dumbledore told everyone about his jinx, maybe Ginny wouldn't have been so reckless when trying to save him. So many what ifs, he thought. She's fine, everything is fine.

* * *

When Emily found herself alone in the dungeons of Malfoy manor she blew a hole through the ceiling. Which, of course, naturally tore through to the ground floor. After a solid minute of vehement screaming and cursing she calmed down enough to think. Clearly he had been jinxed so she couldn't take him anywhere. Her plan had been so flawless, so perfect, only to have been thwarted by Harry himself. Damn it all, she thought, with a smile that held little warmth, he's regressed backwards to ruining all my plans. With a quick flick of her wand, she healed her nose and vanished the blood.

It was at this moment that two of her followers arrived in the dungeons to see what had happened. Upon seeing the pacing Albus Dumbeldore, one of them let out an unmanly shriek and fled while the other drew his wand. The scream caught Emily's attention and she had the second man under the Cruciatus curse before he could start speaking an incantation. Once the man had been reduced to a twitching mess on the cold stone floor, Emily stepped over him and made her way to the rooms Lucius had set aside for her. She saw two more of her followers on the way, both convicted escapees from Azkaban, and they too, panicked and ran away from her. It was only as she was entering her quarters that she felt her body going through the change signaling that the precious batch of polyjuice had worn off.

It was sad that it was the only batch she had. The few drops of Dumbledore's blood she had acquired from their duel in the mountains were barely enough for the potion to work. A shame that the potion could function off of a single strand of hair, but a drop of blood wouldn't suffice. She supposed it had to do with the fact that the key ingredient of the potion was cells that held DNA. Blood had millions of cells, but only 1 in 1000 of those cells had DNA. Hair was primarily made from protein and skin cells, and all skin cells had DNA in them.

It had been a simple plan. Imperius a random witch, change her appearance into her own. Then have her grab the boy and run. All eyes would be on the faux Emily, and the real Emily, disguised as Dumbledore, could save the day and lead the boy to safety. After all, no one questions Albus Dumbledore. Of course her idea of safety was not Hogwarts, but Malfoy manor where she could tie him down and restore his memories of her. And then ravish him for hours. Her body was being wracked with pain, after having been so close to him for too brief a time period. She felt like a heroine addict suffering from withdrawal being teased with the drug that would make the pain stop.

"Has is really only been two weeks since I held you last?" she whispered to herself. "It feels like an eternity ago that every night I would take you in my arms." The pain and sudden disappointment hit her all at once and she had to grit and bare her teeth in an angry snarl to fight back the threatening tears. Anger was best for her. Anger was familiar. No matter, she'd just start again. Time was only the enemy of mortals after all, and she was immune to death. She had all the time in the world.

* * *

Harry Potter could barely even remember returning to Grimauld Place with the rest of the Weasley family. They then took the floo to Hogwarts where Ginny was carefully taken to the hospital wing. Professor Flitwick, whom they met in the great hall awarded Harry fifty points to Gryffindor thanks to the charm work he used that saved her life. Professor Sinistra, who he had been talking to, had to remind him that he could not award points until later this evening, once the rest of the students arrived.

Harry, Ron and Hermione were asked by the staff to occupy themselves in the castle for the remaining hours until the express arrived. Normally in this case, either Ron or Hermione would dominate the conversation, but today they were silent. Ron slapped Harry lightly on the back.

"Thanks, for saving my sister."

"Don't. Who knows, if she hadn't forced Voldemort to make a scene like that, she may have thought she had time enough to come back for me? Ginny... she really did Gryffindor proud there, you know?"

"Course she did. Ginny's as feisty as it gets. She's got a bit of the best of all her brothers in her, you know. Everyone came back from Hogwarts and shared secrets with her they didn't tell anyone else. Heck, I told her everything that happened first year with the stone."

Ron was silent for a brief moment, "I dunno though, Harry. She was sweet on you before all this mess and now that you literally pieced her back together, it might only get worse." He smiled at Harry, enjoying the thoughts running through his head. "She'll probably get together with the Creevey brothers and start up a Harry Potter fan club."

"Oh lay off, Ronald." Cue Hermione, she only ever used Ron's full name when she was chastising him. Harry preferred the word, discipline, but Ron hated that. "Your only younger sibling was terribly hurt helping your best friend and you make light of the situation."

"Not much else to do. She'll be fine now, Harry saw to that. And one day, I'll pull a Harry and slug his girl friend right in the schnoz."

The conversation had turned into uncomfortable waters and Harry immediately responded.

"Emily isn't my girlfriend. Well, not now. Er, I mean, she won't be my girlfriend in the future either." It was an awkward statement and from the way his two friends looked at him after he said it, they knew it too.

"I know your not very pleased about the idea right now with your memories gone, Harry, but if you ever get them back, I think you'll want to go back to her." Hermione said this gently, even going so far to place a hand on his shoulder to stop him from walking. "But until then, we'll try not to bring her up in conversation."

"Now hold on a tic." Ron overrode Hermione, and Harry and she turned to look at him. "Not like we've got anyone breathing down our necks here. I'd say we got a good six hours til the train gets here. Why not head to the kitchen, grab some food, and talk about everything first?"

"What do you mean by everything?" Harry had to ask.

"What you remember, what we know. Lets throw it all out in the open and see if we can figure any more details out." Ron said all this like it was nothing, despite the fact that the conversation was revolving around the fact that Harry was 'boffing' a seventy year old woman.

"Fine." Despite Harry not wanting to think about the relationship aspect, he did want to find the truth. And he was more than willing to do so if it did not involve allowing a dark lord to mess with his head.

Minutes later the three of them were being fawn over by a group of house elves. Hermione did not seem pleased about the arrangement, and refused to be served a drink or food. Harry and Ron on the other hand, had no such reservations and loaded up on pumpkin juice and sandwiches.

"I'll start things off, and you two can add in any details as I go along. If you can manage to speak with all that food near your mouths." Hermione made her disdain for house elf labor known. "Early last school year, it was pretty evident that something was different about you, Harry. You were taking 'remedial' lessons in defense class, the only class you outshine me in, and aside from that you simply weren't around the two of us like the previous years. I bugged Ron several times to question you about it with me, but he said, and I quote, 'Leave the bloke alone Hermione, give him some space if he wants it.'"

She took a pause to sip Harry's pumpkin juice, foregoing her stance on house elf servitude for the moment. "Then you started excelling fast. In all of your classes. In your practical classes anyway. You just started taking off. You came to me about making an inter house study group, and started making friends outside Gryffindor. Went around to all sorts of different clubs. Thats' when Ron finally wanted to talk to you, we both thought you might be growing apart from us. But no matter how much time you did spend around the other students, you always did make time to spend with only us two."

Harry nodded his head. All of those memories were definitely in his head. "I wanted to start making connections throughout Hogwarts. I wanted to start making inroads with other people who might be influential in the future."

"Blimey, mate, thats a bit too Slytherin of you. Betcha V-, er, Emily put him up to that."

Hermione answered the statement, "We can't be sure of that. While Dumbledore has kept us mostly in the dark, he was firm on the fact that you wanted to stop Emily from doing bad things. Its possible Harry was trying to make alliances with others in the future should Emily go... too far."

Harry was both annoyed and happy that Hermione refered to him in the third person here. Annoyed because he was right there, and happy because though he remembered doing these things, he couldn't recall the why. It still felt foreign to him.

"Maybe," Ron said, "But Emily would benefit more. With her connection to the pureblood bigots, and Harry's connection to, well, everyone, that's a lot of sway with most of us. Control the masses through Harry, and she could control the government through the purebloods. Easy world domination."

Harry realized that this three way conversation had devolved to a two way debate. While Hermione may have incredible amounts of intelligence and logic, Ron was, at his core, a strategist. A planner and an executor. While he may have been a slacker when it involved school work, no one would ever call Ron thick. Well, he did struggle understanding people, sometimes, especially women. He held his own in the argument.

"True, but if thats the case, then we may as well chalk up Harry being a turncoat. If he would help Emily to that extent, then I doubt he's trying to keep her morals straight. What do you think, Harry?"

The metaphorical ball had been passed to him too fast. He wasn't ready. "I, er, well I obviously don't think I'd just bend to her will like that. I reckon that if I were doing one or the other, I'd probably do what Hermione is thinking."

Ron looked thoughtful for a minute. "What if she made you a deal or something. Bought you off. Something you really wanted. Do you think you would bend?"

"Not much she could offer me, though, really. Nothing that could... Sirius." Harry suddenly had a moment of clarity. "Sirius was freed because of some unknown evidence right?" At their tentative nods, he continued. "Well if anyone could procure evidence of his innocence it would've been Emily. Seeing as the man he 'murdered' was alive and with her often."

"Obviously she couldn't just go to the ministry and testify, but if there was anything that she could give me that might make me turn to her like that, it would be Sirius."

"Yeah, to be fair, I can't really see you getting too chummy with her if Peter was still in the picture, but then again, I can't really wrap my head around the whole dating Voldemort thing in general." Ron voiced his opinion and Harry couldn't help silently agree. Though he hated the term dating. From what Dumbledore had told him days before, their relationship had been mostly consensual, but no one likes hearing the term 'mostly consensual'. It meant that a part of their relationship did exist that he was not agreeing to.

"So, she somehow hands Peter over to the ministry-" Hermione was once again cut off by Ron.

"Nah, she definitely killed him and handed over the corpse. If they found him alive they'd have put it in the paper."

"Not if they wanted to keep it quiet. Especially since Peter would tell each and every one of Voldemort's secrets to keep himself out of Azkaban."

Harry, however, sided with Ron. "No, Emily would have made certain Peter couldn't say anything. If she did hand him over, it was just the corpse, like Ron said."

"Hmph, fine. After murdering Pettigrew and securing Sirius' freedom, the two of you move forward in your relationship. And Harry potentially joins her side."

The three of them fell silent. This was a lot to ponder. What made it worse was that the pieces all fit together. Harry remember when Emily had first made him an offer to join her, almost five years previously.

'Better to join me now and save yourself by giving me the Stone, Potter. Otherwise you'll die like your parents did.'

He had resisted her then, at the age of eleven. Even in the face of certain death, he had fought her. "Even if I did tell her I would join her, I would still fight. It can't have ended that way."

Ron's head cocked to the side, and while making a peculiar face, he said, "Maybe we're not looking at this the right way. Maybe instead of Harry joining Voldemort, Voldemort joined Harry."

Hermione let out a scoff, "Join him in what? Winning the house cup? Be serious Ron."

"No, no, no, just... just think about it. She loves him, that's something we all know, right. She somehow finds out where the Dursleys are, and tries to get in, but fails. Then we know she lures him out, and Dumbledore interferes. And she turns tail and runs. Then she goes ahead and puts herself right under the one person she fear's nose. All to be with Harry. What if Harry somehow made an agenda of his own last year, and Voldemort joined him."

"So your saying that I'm... what? A Dark Lord now?"

"Not really. Just cuz you have plans doesn't mean they're dark."

Harry was torn. All these ideas they had come up with were nothing more than hypothetical. Nothing concrete, nothing to put his mind at ease.

"So freeing Sirius..." Hermione prompts.

"Just her trying to get into Harry's good graces. She killed his parents, obviously she had a lot of work ahead of her to make up for that. Harry already said that was the one thing he'd do practically anything for, maybe it was the price for his forgiveness."

Harry had had enough. "Okay, lets stop. We've got no real information. We are just tossing around ideas. Wasting time."

"Kinda the point, mate. Rest of the school is still a couple hours off."

"Ron, he means he's tired of the conversation."

"Well I'm not. We need to figure this out. We need to know if Harry really wants to go back to her. We nee-"

"STOP!" Harry slammed his hands into the table. He had reached the breaking point. "Just stop. I'm never going back to that psychopath. Even if my memories return. Stop talking about what I might want, when I'm right here and can tell you myself."

Ron clamped his mouth shut, and just nodded. Hermione, after looking unsure for a few seconds, placed her hand gently on his shoulder. "We didn't mean to upset you, Harry. We're sorry. Please understand that though the thought seems ludicrous to you, we've seen you there, spoken to you about your relationship with her. We've seen the love you had for her. We're trying to be supportive, but its just hard I suppose. Forcing ourselves to accept that you loved a Dark Lord and now we sit here trying to convince you of it too."

Harry just listened. "She's going to do everything in her power to get to you, but don't worry. We'll make sure it never happens." Hermione's words did little to raise his spirits. In truth, it was just another reminder that Emily would chase him forever. If he could not escape her, what was he going to do? It all just felt so hopeless.

Conversation turned to lighter things, Hermione asking him about his summer homework. Ron had apparently completed his well enough with Hermione's presence at headquarters, but Harry told her he highly doubted the first thing on Emily's checklist was his school assignments. Their topics remained light as the hours whittled down until the rest of the students arrived, upon which the three made their way to the Great Hall.

They were some of the last to enter, with many people throwing Harry curious looks as they made their way to the Gryffindor table. Harry ignored them. He'd had lots of practice. Professor McGonagall entered shortly after leading the years group of first years. The Sorting Hat's song that year was some trifle that Harry couldn't make heads or tails of and soon all of the new students were placed in their houses.

"Hello, everyone. Welcome back to another year here at Hogwarts." Albus Dumbledore had risen from his seat and addressed them kindly. "There are a handful of announcements I need to make to all of you. First, is the introduction of our new defense against the dark arts professor. Would you all please extend a warm welcome to Professor Diggle."

An excitable wizard with a rather beaming smile nodded to all of them as the headmaster spoke, his bright purple top hat nearly flying off onto the table. Harry immediately recognized the man, from his childhood and his first visit to the Leaky Cauldron, as well as the occasional order meeting.

"Dumbledore's really scraping the bottom of the barrel if he's resorting to hiring Order members." Ron whispered lowly into Harry's ear. Harry wasn't surprised, however. Not considering that the last two professor's they had were an Azkaban escapee and a dark lord. It was only logical that the headmaster would look closer to home.

"Mr. Diggle is quite the accomplished wizard and I suspect you will find his classes... entertaining. Now please remember everyone that the Forbidden Forest..." Harry Potter recognized the beginning of the same part of Dumbledore's repeated speech and tuned the elderly man out, gently placing his head on the table. It was in this brief moment of unguarded weariness that his head was filled with words and an acute painful panging.

 _'Harry. Harry please, listen to me. You must come back to me. I know I've screwed some things up, but please, we can overcome them.'_

 _'Emily? Get out of my head. You're hurting me.'_

 _'I know baby, I'm sorry. But I had to speak to you. I'm sorry I couldn't get you today. I tried, but-'_

 _'I didn't want to go with you.'_

 _'You're only saying that because you can't remember us. What we were. I can fix that, if you let me. I can fix everything.'_

 _'No, just do us both a favor and leave me alone.'_ The panging in his head had grown to a belligerent pulsing sensation, but he kept his eyes closed, determined to finish the conversation.

 _'We both know that I can't. I need you. You've done so well, blocking me out completely. I was starting to think I would have to force my way through your scar to speak with you.'_

 _'Stay out of my head. I don't want to have-'_ Suddenly Harry was being shaken violently and the tenuous connection for their conversation broke. The pain was already receding quickly, though his body still shook with slight tremors. His eyes locked on to the face in front of him, meeting the brown gaze.

"Nice of you to join us. Are you alright?" Ginny Weasley had shoved her brother over and placed herself beside Harry. Throwing her arm around him in a way that could only be consider chummy, she whispered in his ear, "I noticed she had a hold on you. Everything okay?"

"Fine, but how could you tell?"

"Couldn't really. You're eyes were closed for a couple seconds and you started fidgeting a bit. Figured it was her since Ron says you only do that when your scar hurts."

"Yeah, well, surprise of all surprises, apparently we can talk through it." Harry kept his voice low to keep the conversation as private as possible. Easy enough to do as on either side of him were his two best friends.

"Wow, that's... weird. She say anything worthwhile?"

"Not a damn thing actually. Just wanted me to go back to her. Which seems is something half of everyone expects me to be jumping to do first."

"Emily's a tosser. I figure if you're right where you want to be, then you should stay here."

Harry smiled at her. It was about time someone came along whom he didn't have to convince that he was fine where he was. Ginny just understood him like that though. It was intuitive and he was grateful.

"Thanks, Ginny." Their privacy vanished when Dumbledore suddenly stopped speaking and the tables were magically filled with food. The two remained side by side for the meal and Harry was once again struck by how well he thought of Ron's sister. She was pretty and loved Quidditch. It was at that thought that he violently remembered someone's seething voice spitting at him.

'Hah, so that's all it takes for the great Harry Potter. A pretty face who enjoys having a thick piece of wood between her legs.'

The words turned his stomach, but made him realize something. He literally knew absolutely nothing about the young woman next to him. Sure he knew the basics, her name, her family, et cetera. But anything of actual substance, anything that made Ginny who she was, was all missing information, excluding what he knew of her first year at Hogwarts.

Harry finished his meal in quiet contemplation of his newest close friend, and was suddenly seized by the desire to know more about Ginny Weasley. Before he had even opened his mouth, the head master once again rose from his chair.

"We are about to once again enter another year. I do hope you will all enjoy yourselves as much as you are able and do your best to remain out of trouble." Usually a pointed look would be leveled at Fred and George Weasley, but as they had graduated the year before, Dumbledore's face remained passive as he finished telling them all to head to their common rooms.

As Harry Potter rested his head against his pillow, his final thoughts were not on the dark lord who hunted him. Nor were they on school or his assignments. Instead his last thoughts were on how pretty he thought Ginny Weasley was.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: I know things may seemed rushed, but in the end, the entire sidequest we've been through here is nothing more than an inconvenient blip in the main story. Though a much needed one. Our main characters needed to grow away from one another, Harry needed more resentment for her, etc.

Chapter 10

Harry never would have expected himself to be petty. At least not in such a base way. But over the first month of school, he found that not only was he most definitely petty, he also could be downright mean.

"Dean's such a tosser." Ron said to him as they sat down at the Great Hall for breakfast. Harry nodded his head in agreement. The two of them had never actually had a problem with their dorm mate for the previous five years, but all it took was the boy striking up a relationship with Ron's sister for the two of them to unite together in their newfound distaste for him.

For Ron, he didn't like the idea of anyone dating Ginny. The same reasoning applied to Harry. Dean monopolized all of her time, even during quidditch practice as they both had made it onto the team. Truthfully, had Harry known about their budding relationship before the tryouts, he knew he wouldn't have picked Dean to be a chaser.

"Honestly, you two, Dean's the same person he has been the past five years. You're just overprotective, Ron, and Harry's just jealous." Hermione's rebuke had Ron grumbling and Harry sputtering.

"Jealous? Are you off your rocker?"

Hermione didn't look up from her notes spread before her, one hand keeping her reading place as she used the other to eat. "Hmm, you're not exactly subtle Harry. If you stared at Ginny any harder she might catch fire."

Harry was taken aback. While he knew he wasn't the most stealthy person around, he was shocked that Hermione had so easily called him out on it. Normally Hermione herself was more subtle about things. She would never openly confront either him or Ron about something like this.

He couldn't help but grimace. "You don't think she's noticed, do you?"

Hermione sighed, finally moving her gaze from her notes. "She's a girl whose had a massive crush on you for years, what do you think?"

He groaned, placing his head on the table. This was truly embarassing. The girl he was pining over was once pining over him, but now had someone else. Could the universe conspire against him any harder right now.

"That's actually most of the reason she agreed to go out with Dean. Her exact words, I believe, were, 'If Harry doesn't have the bollocks to ask me out, then I'll say yes to someone who does.'"

Harry, whose head remained on the table, turned it so he caught Hermione's eye. "She's been dating him since the second week of term. I haven't been staring at her that long."

"Not that you were aware of."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Harry was shocked that Ron had yet to say a thing, giving the young red head a brief look, only to find him watching their exchange with a smile on his face. He was enjoying this.

"It means, Harry, that you've fancied Ginny for some time. Longer than you realized."

Harry's head returned to its face down position, so he didn't have to meet either of his friends in the eye. "Fat lot of good it is, either way. She's with him now."

"Yes, and Ginny's not the type to abandon ship once she's made a choice. But if you want my advice, and I know you do, so don't even open your mouth," Harry closed his mouth, impressed that Hermione knew he had opened it with it not being visible. "They won't be together for too long. Dean likes Ginny for her spirit, yes, but he's too old fashioned. As he's muggle born, he has muggle ideology when it comes to dating. He'll want to dote on her and protect her, which is something Ginny probably wouldn't mind to an extent. But Dean's not really capable in that regard."

Harry was completely lost. According to Hermione, Harry and Dean had the same reasons for liking Ginny, and the same desire to dote on and protect her. "What exactly do you mean?"

"Boys are so clueless sometimes." Giving him a sharp tap on the head to make him meet her eyes, she explained further. "Ginny wants to be doted on and cherished yes, but she also wants, no needs, someone who will recognize her strengths. Dean will try to do that, I'm sure, but he'll most likely fail where it matters. He'll try to interfere when he should support. In the end, it will come down to who Ginny is as a person, which honestly, no one in the castle can really understand but you, Harry."

The explanation went straight over his head, "What?"

"Ginny is who Ginny she is, because of Voldemort."

At Harry's blank stare, she continued. "Voldemort's actions in Ginny's first year changed her completely. Influenced how she saw the world. Ginny's still a girl, but she's now a girl who swore to never be weak again. Anyone who wants to be in a relationship with Ginny will have to know when to support her when she's strong and when to catch her when she's weak."

"Well, I do understand that. Fully, but you think I can be that person?"

Hermione laughed. "Of course not." Harry immediately wilted. "No offense Harry, but you have a saving people thing. You'll probably not be able to be there for Ginny like she needs someone to be for a long time. The only difference however, is that you're probably the only guy she'd be willing to have the patience to let learn how to do those things."

"So, after telling me all this, what should I do."

"Just be you, Harry. Be a great and caring friend. And when the two of them break up, gather up some courage and take the plunge. Ask her out. Kiss her. Just do something."

Harry nodded thoughtfully as the three of them gathered their belongings to attend Defense. Which turned out to be a disappointing experience.

Professor Diggle, immensely excited to be teaching Harry Potter, had arranged quite the lesson. No sooner had the entire group entered the class and sat down when the lights flashed brightly before extinguishing completely. Harry began moving immediately.

"Today students, your meant to find the dark wizard in the class room. A role I have graciously decided on taking. So arm your wits young children, for what now may be a lesson, might one day soon be a true life struggle."

When the lighting returned, Harry was the only one who had actually moved from his seat. He had managed to place himself in the corner of the room and immediately got a look of everything before him. He was the only student to have a full view of the entire classroom. Seamus Finnegan, noticing him in the corner immediately fired a stunner at him, probably assuming he was the professor. He blocked the spell easily with his recently reacquired Holly and Phoenix feather wand and continued surveying the room.

'Think, what would a dark wizard do?' he looked at all the faces and almost all of them stared right back at him. All but one. Neville Longbottom had his face staring straight ahead of him, not looking the least bit out of place in a classroom setting. But the problem was is that they were not in a normal classroom setting. Every other student was gazing around and their eyes eventually landed on Harry. All but Neville's, and Harry knew immediately that this behavior was as far from the standard Neville as could be.

The deduction took all of seven seconds, before Harry sent a stunner at Neville's back. The spell never connected as Neville, in a suprising display of athleticism, dove from his seat to the floor, rolling into a crouched position and returned the spellfire.

The impromptu duel never got out of hand, however, as his best mate, Ron, decided to help him. One full body bind curse later and a frozen Neville Longbottom lay before them. Hermione stood up and canceled the jinx and with a poof, Neville had vanished and there stood Professor Diggle.

"Marvelous work, Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley. What wonderful teamwork. Especially you Mr. Weasley, you didn't dally about in aiding your friend. Twenty points to Gryffindor for solving a lesson that was supposed to have taken you all day. Wonderful, simply wonderful. But Mr. Potter, how on earth did you deduce who I was so quickly?"

"You didn't act like the rest of the students, sir. Everyone was looking at me in the corner, but you just stared straight ahead."

"Oh, my, you were in the corner? Must've made your way there during my introduction to the lesson I'd wager. Clever lad. Excellent strategy, Mr. Potter. You were presented with many unknowns and found yourself a good vantage point."

"Er, not really sure. Just wanted my back covered."

"Even more impressive. While truthfully, I'd have not harmed any one of you, a real threat would have. Take another ten points Mr. Potter, for overwhelming preparedness. Or rather, should I say, 'Constant Vigilance.'"

The professor then dismissed them all early, after assigning them a brief essay, which Harry and Ron were exempt from completing, due to their class work. After quickly racing back to the class room to ask if the real Neville was okay (he was) they went off to the Great Hall.

"Must've been barking mad to do that. Seriously, a sixth year lesson, done in less than ten minutes. What on-"

"And what, pray tell, Mr. Weasley, are you and your friends doing out of class." Snape moved towards them and Harry was shocked that the comment had not been made towards him.

"We were dismissed, eas-, er, early lesson, sir."

"You should run along then. No loitering in the corridors."

The three of them left post haste.

"Odd, I kind of expected him to take a shot at me somewhere in there." Harry said as they made their way to the common room.

"Yeah, didn't even look at you mate. Then again, we heard he was messed up pretty badly at the ministry a few weeks ago. Maybe just wants to stay the hell away from you. Who knows, maybe you did it to him in the first place."

For a brief moment Harry did wonder if that was true and honestly felt a small desire to have the memories of that night in his head. Then he pushed it away all together.

* * *

Thus Harry's school year began in earnest. Harry felt as though he were floating through the courses, being able to perform the majority of the magic that they were going over without struggle. He was stuck at a standstill in potions however, he could only assume Emily didn't get around to that subject. Fortunately, Snape was still practically oblivious to his presence and had still yet to look at him. But his charms, transfiguration, and defense magic easily outclassed those of his year, even Hermione.

Time began to drag for him. Days turned into weeks at an agonizing pace, every moment Harry spent in a classroom started stretching to its limit. His mind started to wander, and normally kept wandering for what seemed like hours, never really settling on a thought unless it was his two best friends or Ginny Weasley.

At least, in regards to Ginny, things did seem to pick up for the better. By following Hermione's advice, he had managed to maintain a steady friendship with the girl, and even more so a boon, was that she and Dean had broken up seven weeks into term. Well, it was not a mutual break up, rather Ginny had exploded on Dean when he continuously tried to give her Quidditch advice, when everyone there knew Ginny was the better flier.

It was just after the start November that Harry received new of his Aunt Petunia's passing. He was even more shocked to here that the death had happened over two months prior. Professor McGonagall who had called him into her office apologized.

"I'm terribly sorry, Mr. Potter. Your family never contacted the school to inform us of the death, and since you had not been there, we had no one looking out for your family. Arabella Figg only just now passed the information on when she saw your cousin and uncle packing their things to move into London."

Harry was not surprised to hear that his uncle had not contacted the school. He was certain when his aunt died, his uncle probably swore to never think of the magical world again. If it weren't for his nephew, he'd never have started.

While Harry couldn't have expected to greatly mourn his aunt's death, the sudden depression he fell into upon hearing the news was almost incapacitating. It was as if everything had come to a head and he just couldn't push through anymore. His temper at an all time high, with even Ron and Hermione receiving a handful of his shouts. He made the mistake of getting shirty with Ginny one time, but he fell victim to her bat bogey hex.

It was in this time of anger that he began to further appreciate Ginny's presence. She refused to put up with his temperment, but instead of getting on his case about it, she sat him down to talk. The talks calmed him down, but they ended up happening more and more frequently. Eventually, it was Hermione who called him out on his issues.

"Harry, we need to talk."

He and Ginny were sitting outside by the lake alone, an event that was more common than not. Them being alone together, that is. Ginny didn't even look to Hermione, keeping her gaze straight ahead, and Harry figured either she was giving them a semblence of privacy or she already knew what was going on.

"Sure, do we need to go somewhere?"

"No, I think Ginny can help with the conversation."

Shooting Ginny another sidelong look, and seeing that she still kept her gaze straight forward, told him she was most certainly aware of what this talk was about... and she wasn't a fan of it.

"Harry, you're suffering from depression."

Harry could only stare at his best friend. He had been under the impression that this had been obvious. This had all started when his aunt died, and they were all aware of it. What was she getting at?

"I know. I don't really understand it." He turned his gaze to the lake, refreshing his warming charm. "Petunia and I weren't even close. Technically speaking we interacted the least, her only telling me what to do. I think maybe, that's why I'm like this, maybe I saw her as the best of the three of them, because she left me alone the most."

"Harry, while I am sure you are sad about your aunt's passing, thats not the key part of your depression." Hermione sighed, seeming to work up some nerve. "Harry, your depressed because you're not with Emily anymore."

Harry's temper, quick to rile as it always had been for the past weeks, came forth in an instant. "Oh, come on, not this again. Damn it, Hermione, I don't want to be near that woman. Ever. For fuck's sake, just drop it."

"No, I won't. You're not getting any better, Harry. Its been months. Ever since you got back in the summer you've clung to either Ron, Ginny or myself. You have shunned away everyone else, and I understand, no one sees you as you anymore. They see a remnant of a dark lord, and you've had to deal with that as well as you could."

She took a deep breath, and he waited. Because while the words coming out of her mouth offended him, they also felt right. It was insane that he be this upset over a woman he could barely call family. Maybe Hermione could finally tell him why he was always just so angry, why he was always seething deep down inside.

"Your trying to cope with a loss you don't even know is gone. You were wallowing in it for two months, Harry, and you just latched onto the first terrible thing you could to identify it."

Harry's thoughts turned inward. He was so very ready to scream at her. Tell her she was wrong, call her an idiot. But the words never made it out. So he just stood there feeling alone, until a hand wrapped around his arm and pulled him gently away from Hermione.

"Harry," Ginny began speaking softly, "Hermione's right. Or at least I think she is. This isn't healthy for you." Pulling his arm up, and subsequently his hand, she brushed her lips across his knuckles. "You need to find a way to move past this."

He stared into her eye's, and couldn't help but think he would do anything for her. For the woman in front of him who had been slowly fixing him over the past few months. He wanted to say that he just needed time. That she would eventually get him back to where he needed to be. Instead of this however, he said, "What do you think I should do?"

Ginny did not answer the question, despite the fact he clearly was asking her.

"We've been talking to Draco Malfoy." Hermione said and Harry was surprised. While Harry and Draco would probably never be real mates, the two of them had spent some time together in their previous year for defense projects. The two tolerated one another, though Draco had yet to approach him this year.

"So, what did the ferret have to say?"

Hermione started looking uneasy now. "He says Emily has tasked him with a way to get you to her."

"Well, he's shite out of luck then, isn't he?"

"Maybe." Hermione grimaced.

"Hermione, what did you tell that ponce?" Harry was exasperated now. Just how far did Hermione's plans stretch.

"He's agreed to take you to Emily, have her restore your memories and then you can come back here, if you wish."

He couldn't help but laugh. This was absurd. "You can't tell me you bought that story. She'd never let me go."

Ginny walked over to Hermione's side from his, facing him. The two now looked like a united front. "She'll keep her promise Harry. I guarantee it."

"Oh, do tell, Ginny?"

"Of anyone in this entire castle, no one knows more about Emmeline Riddle than myself. I had her in my head for months Harry. I know her wants, her fears, everything. She truly is terrified by death. So we have her held by that."

"You've lost me somewhere, how do you two have the power to kill Emily?"

"We don't, not really. But Draco told us just this morning she is willing to make an Unbreakable Vow to let you choose your own path once you've regained your memories."

"Jesus Christ, you two. Just how long have you both been at this?"

"About three weeks now." Ginny stated. "Long enough for me to realize that I really like you, and that you really like me."

Harry's eyes widened in shock. Ginny knew what he was feeling, and she admitted to feeling the same. This was groundbreaking news, but Harry was so shaken by the revelation he was forced to listen further.

"But Hermione thinks that your just latching onto me. That I'm a side effect of your depression. She said the muggles call it a 'rebound relationship'. All your feelings for Emily are just transferring over to me." He was fairly certain Ginny's eyes were glassy, but she refused to look at him now, so he wasn't sure.

Ginny blinked rapidly a few times before whipping her head in his direction. "So I want you to choose me. Go and get your memories, get whatever closure you need to from her, and then come back to me."

It was all so simple, yet so horrifying. He could finally get the girl he'd been crushing on, who'd been crushing on him as well. But to do that, he'd have to confront a the biggest monster that ever existed in his life.

Emily Riddle was never going to be that monster for him. She didn't have the power. The real monster was himself. Did he really fall so far as to love the woman who killed his parents? Who made an entire country suffer for decades? How could he be capable of that? In the past few months, just what kind of man had he turned into, and was he willing to face that person head on?

"Can't you two see that I'm terrified of all this. That the reason I want to stay as far away from my memories is because they're too much for me to handle. I don't want to love that person. I'm scared to death to love that person. Because if I can care for a monster like her, what kind of monster does that make me?" Though all of it was only just now coming forth from his mouth, he felt as though it all had been sitting in his head for the entire time he had returned. He was already steeling himself up for the confrontation.

He took a deep breath, "Imagine, Hermione, waking up as Malfoy's wife. But having no clue how you got there. But everyone telling you it was meant to be. Multiply that by a hundred and you might get an idea of how I feel right now."

Harry found himself being fiercely embraced by the two girls now. They held onto him tightly, almost tighter than his chest felt after coming to terms with his true fears. Hermione whispered to him, "You are no monster, Harry Potter." The two of them pulled back, with Ginny running her hand up and down both of his cheeks. It was only after he saw the dampness on her hands that he realized he had been crying.

"You're right, though. I have to stop running away from myself." Harry's quiet declaration was only heard by the three of them. He finally figured it all out. He was afraid of himself. He needed to confront that fear before anything else, including being with Ginny.

"So, I don't mean to ruin the moment, but how exactly are you lot going to get Emily to actually perform an Unbreakable Vow?" Ron asked from a few feet away, making all three of them jump in fright.

* * *

To say the next few weeks were stressful would be putting it mildly. In the end it had been decided that Bellatrix Lestrange would bind Emily's Vow to Draco Malfoy. Hermione volunteered to witness it happen, but Ginny over ruled her.

"You're a muggleborn Hermione, you can't be certain what they'll do to you. I, on the other hand, am a pureblood. The only one who knows more about Emmeline's past than anyone else. I'll have some leverage should the situation require it."

Hermione's request was not helped by Draco's insistence that Emily preferred Ginny Weasley to come witness the vow. Harry was ready to abandon everything then and there, but oddly enough, it was Draco himself that soothed Harry's worries.

"Relax, Potter. The Dark Lord would never harm one of your friends intentionally. Most certainly if she didn't have her hands on you yet. She's not willing to push you away at this stage of negotiations."

The evening that Ginny Weasley left with Draco Malfoy was a quiet one. Harry had no idea how the two made their way out of the castle. The relaxed atmosphere did nothing to settle Harry's nerves however, for he knew that someone he cared very deeply for was in a precarious situation. What if Emily decided to take Ginny hostage, or what if she simply killed her? Surely she wouldn't do these, things, not when it seemed as though her plans were working and would continue without fail. But as the hours passed and the two did not return, Harry began fearing the worst.

It was well past midnight when he finally decided to hell with all of their secret plans, he was telling Dumbledore. He hadn't made it halfway across the common room before the portrait hole opened up and Ginny entered. She was pale and disheveled, but her stride was strong and her face composed.

"Are you okay, Ginny? Why were you gone for so long?"

"I'm fine, Harry. The unbreakable vow went off without a hitch. It seems your ex really wanted to speak to me alone, so that's what we've been doing."

"Speak to you? What did she say?"

"Its private. Girl talk, I guess you could call it. Don't worry about it."

Harry doubted her words heavily, but didn't get a chance to argue before she'd closed the gap between them and placed a kiss on his cheek. "It's been a long day. I'm going to sleep."

With that the conversation was over. Harry could only let the issue drop. Ginny and Emily had their own sort of relationship after all, even if Emily had no idea what went on between them during that time. In the end, if Ginny wished to talk, she would do so.

The next few days were peaceful. Though Draco Malfoy had been pressuring the quartet on when they would be sneaking Harry out to meet with Emily, the Gryffindors had replied that when the students left for the christmas break would be the best time to run off. Most of the teachers would be preoccupied with the other students and their little group was scheduled to leave for the Order headquarters the next day.

* * *

The morning of their deception dawned wet and cold, with snow falling down outside freely. The four of them waved goodbye to their friends and dorm mates as they departed, before retreating back to their common rooms. Draco Malfoy had told them to meet him near the room of requirement half an hour after the students were gone. Though only Harry himself wished to go, Ron had forced him to accept his presence as well. Hermione wished to accompany them, but was once again quickly refused due to her blood status. Ginny on the other had, chose the opposite route. She desired to stay and wait for him to return.

"You'll come back to me, I know it." She and Harry had gone up to Harry room's to gather a handful of things, including the items he thought to be lost in Egypt. Dumbledore had apparently used his connections as the Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards to get the items back to England. How, Harry did not know, but it was Dumbledore. The man probably had connection all across the globe. The affects included both his wand and invisibility cloak, though sadly to say his firebolt did not survive the ordeal.

"I will. Thanks for doing all of this, Ginny. I've been missing something, something huge in my life these past few months and it will be good to get it back."

"I know. Listen, Harry. Emily will do anything to keep you with her. I know she will, it was one of the many things she and I discussed. She's going to use threats, violence, anything and everything at her disposal to coerce you to stay. But she can't force you, thanks to the vow. Both her and her followers won't be able to lay a hand on you, should you choose to leave. Don't allow anything she says to sway you. Please, Harry, just choose me."

The tone in her voice seemed almost desperate and for the first time when she pulled him into an embrace, she kissed him fully on the mouth. It was a hard fleeting kiss that lasted for a moment, before she pulled herself away from him.

"Don't worry, Ginny. I may not remember her very well, but I know what she's capable of. I'll walk out of there, and come back here. Hopefully there's something in my memories that can stop her dead in her tracks and we can put everything behind us."

"Hmm, I like the sound of that, 'us'. I'm counting on you. Be safe. Goodbye."

When Harry and Ron arrived at the entrance to the enchanted room, they found Draco already pacing back and forth in front of the doorway. "Hurry, lets get this over with."

He opened the door and they saw towering stacks of... stuff. It was truly the most eclectic assortment of objects one could imagine. Piles of it, some of them over fifteen feet in the air. Draco lead them through the maze of junk to a cabinet.

"You three will get in here. I'll stay on this side, and perform the magic to get you to the other side. When Weasley decides to come back, he'll get back in and the dark lord will cast the magic to send him back. I'll be leaving a trail for him to follow to make it back to the door."

"Oy, what makes you so sure that Harry's not coming back with me."

"Don't be a moron, Weasley. Potter is the Dark Lord's right hand man. Of course you'll come back alone."

The comment from Draco, who was calm and assured, made Harry panic. Draco was closer to the situation than either of his friends and yet, he was distant as could be. He didn't even know of the true nature of his relationship with Emily, only referring to him as one of her followers. But he seemed certain of Harry's choice and Harry wanted to bolt out of the room. It was only the presence of his two best friends that gave him the determination to keep moving forward.

And so he and Ron clambered into the cabinet, which was a bit of a snug fit. Harry knew that the cabinets maximum capacity would probably handle only two people of Crabbe and Goyle's size, or only one of Dudley. It seemed it was only a moment after Draco had shut the doors that they were being wrenched open again. Harry had thought Draco had lost his own nerve and backed out until he heard the voice.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't my favorite person and his best friend. Pull yourselves out of this drab old piece of furniture and come with me to the sitting room. We've tea and biscuits waiting."

Such a gracious greeting would be standard in almost any household in Britain, but the cheerful and pleasant voice did not match the crimson eyes that met Harry's gaze. The smile was wide and, Harry gulped at the thought, looked hungry. Emily Riddle was their hostess and Harry knew then with certainty, he had made a terrible decision.

A/N:Chapter 11's gonna start off with an informative flashback. The vow. I hope to release the chapter on memorial day.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"I, Emmeline Marvolo Riddle, vow that Harry Potter may choose to go wherever he may wish to upon recovering his memories. I shall not force his decision one way or another, nor will my followers. So mote it be."

"So mote it be."

Ginny sighed in relief, glad that the vow went off without a hitch. She and Draco had entered the vanishing cabinet in the room of requirement, but not before Draco jinxed Ginny so she could not to speak of it. While the jinx wouldn't cause her much harm, it was physically impossible for her to speak if she tripped it.

The two were greeted by Draco's mother, the cabinet being in one of the Malfoy manor's various rooms. Though Ginny remained unaware of their location. Narcissa Malfoy didn't say much, just giving her son a quick embrace and some whispered words before leading them down a dark hallway to another room.

"My oh my, if it isn't little Ms. Weasley." When Ginny's brown eyes met Emily's red ones, she shuddered. It had been many years since she looked into this woman's face. It was difficult to remember the woman in front of her to be honest. Back when she was eleven, the dark lord towered over her. Now at the age of fifteen, the woman had barely three inches of height on her.

The group got down to business quickly, Bellatrix Black entering the chamber only moments later. Once the vow had been made, Ginny had been eager to leave, but was not too surprised when Emily asked everyone to leave the two of them alone until further notice. She had assumed something like this would happen.

"So, Ms. Weasley, do tell me how my Harry is doing."

Ginny grimaced, not liking the implied ownership in what the woman said to her. "I wouldn't know. After all, I've never met your Harry. But I would be happy to tell you how MY Harry is doing."

She watched the raven haired witch's face turn to a sneer. "Don't get smart with me, whore. I'm only allowing your dalliances with him to continue because we both know when he gets his memories back, he'll choose me." Emily pasted the smile back on her face, reinforcing her composure.

Ginny allowed herself a small smile, Emily could do nothing to her. That would ruin her plans. Harry would never come to her if she botched this. Ginny decided to bait the dark lord. "You seem so certain of that. How long has it been since he was with you? Months, wasn't it? Maybe he's found someone better. Maybe... he's taken a liking to, oh I don't know, red heads." While saying this Ginny twirled a lock of her hair on her fingers, still smirking at Emily.

"I know better than that, little girl. After all, I once offered to dye my hair red for him. He didn't seem too keen on the idea."

"Probably thought you'd use blood or something."

"As a matter of fact, yes. Yours." Emily's tone dropped at the last word. It was no longer light or playful. It was downright menacing.

"Hmm, even then you saw me as competition, huh?" Ginny refused to back down. "Afraid he'd be more interested in the girl his own age than a woman old enough to be his great grandmother?"

"I fear nothing."

"You fear everything."

Emily's tenuous control on her emotions snapped, and she swung her wand while shouting, "Crucio." Ginny had only a moment of time to leap to the side to avoid it.

"Always been a quick one, haven't you, whore. Quick to lie, quicker to hide. Quick on a broomstick and quicker in a fight. Quick to jump on my lover as soon as I'm even remotely out of the picture."

"Hah, please, don't flatter yourself. Harry practically showered me with attention. Probably tired of being ignored by you."

"Shut your mouth, you harlot." Emily had fired several spells at her, and the small red head could only scramble away, not having time to reach for her own wand midst the flashes of light. Unfortunately for her, one of the jinxes connected with the side of her head, and a white hot pain seared its way across her lips. Emily knew the girl wouldn't scream, or rather, she couldn't scream. Her mouth was being sewn up with what would feel like a red hot needle. She could only whimper.

Emily sauntered her way over to the smaller girl. She was energized by the tussle. She had bested the girl with ease, it hadn't even been a stru-.

With a bang Emily found herself dangling by her ankle from the air. She was shocked that a fifth year could perform magic silently. She then looked towards the young girl to see a horrific sight. Had Emily Riddle been made of weaker stuff, she may have vomited. The youngest Weasley was using her own wand to stab through her fused lips, using some kind of silent cutting spell. Blood was flowing freely down her lips to her neck.

Normally, in any other circumstance, Emily would have continued to beat her opponent into submission. This wasn't going to be possible today. Emily couldn't damage the girl too badly, or Harry may call everything off. She had to keep her cool. In the span of seconds she disarmed Ginny, returned her own body to the floor and caught the wand flying towards her.

"Impressive display. Where did you learn those spells, Weasley? That's not standard grade five Hogwarts fare."

"Like almost everything else, Emily, I learned it from you."

Emily approached the disarmed girl, grabbing her roughly by the chin and pulling her close. "Such a waste of pure blood." She began mending the teen's torn lips.

"Like you even really care about blood status. You once told me nothing mattered but power, that's all you ever cared about. Power is control."

"At least you learned the lesson better than Harry did. He shirks away from anything resembling real power. He could be so much more if he had more grit."

"He has that in spades. You would know it if you really loved him."

Emily released her hold on the girl, having held her in place long after she had finished healing her. "Perhaps I misspoke. He does have grit. Resolve and courage are two things that boy will never lack. But he lets himself be bound by his heart, where as you and I, the two of us will stop at nothing for what we desire, isn't that right, Weasley?"

"I have my limits."

"Yes, but how easy was it for me to push you past them?"

Emily made her way to one of the chairs in the room, and motioned for the younger girl to sit as well.

"I wish to know some things. Things that only you are aware of. In return I will allow you to ask me questions. You may go first." Emily desired to know more about her first horcrux.

"Do you have some way around the vow you made? I want to know if you plan on cheating your way through it."

"Asking me flat out, is really just inviting me to lie, you understand."

"Well, then, I'll be lying when you ask your own questions."

"That will be useless. I am quite skilled in the-"

"Legilimency, I know. You taught me Occlumency. Wanted to be certain I could keep Dumbledore out of my head should he start suspecting me. So, no, your skills won't be of any benefit."

"Hah, my diary was thorough, I see. Well then, fine, lets be one hundred percent truthful." With a flick of her wand she summoned a sneakoscope to them. "I'm sure you know what this is, detects any deception, including lies. As long as it remains silent, we know we are in the clear. To prove it works, tell any sort of lie right now."

"I don't love Harry Potter." The little red whistle like object started spinning and making noise.

"You're trying my patience."

"Someone has to."

"Whatever. In regards to your question, however, the answer is no. The vow will most certainly rend my soul from my body should I break it. It will be unavoidable." Both of them turned their heads to the detector and both were relieved when it remained silent. Ginny, because she thought it meant that Emily would indeed die, and Emily because, she had no plans on remaining in that state for long.

"How were you able to fight my diary's control after it had been established? Once the link between my diary and you had been made, you should have become nothing more than a puppet."

"I can't know for sure, but I would wager it was jealousy."

"Come again?"

"I was jealous. You never really got a firm hold onto me because of my jealousy towards you. You were an older girl. You were kind to me, pretty, and very skilled. And you were almost fanatical in your desire to know everything about Harry Potter, who even when I was at the age of eleven, I was in love with. Jealousy was only natural. I never could give you my full trust because of that."

Emily just wanted to laugh. This story was downright stupid and she could only wait for the sneakoscope to react. However, it remained silent.

"Why Harry?"

Emily had assumed the young girl would ask questions along a different vein. Questions that would lead to answers she could feed to the Order. But instead, she remained vigilant and focused on only Harry.

"He and I share a connection, or shall I say, I share a connection with him that I do not hold with anyone else. It is intense and inspires powerful emotions between us. The connection is magical and was forged when I tried to kill him as a child. What did my diary do to you precisely when it took you down to the chamber to kill you."

"I was controlled to write a suicide mes-"

"Don't care about that part. Skip to the point where you were located in the main chamber."

"Bossy, much?" Emily just stared. "After we arrived in the chamber, you forced me to lie onto the ground, holding the diary to my chest."

"Touching bare skin, or over your robes."

"Over my robes."

"That's practically useless information. Tells me nothing."

"What do you expect from me? I was eleven at the time."

"So I didn't have you draw runes over your body or anything of that sort?"

"No. And just how many questions do you get to ask me before I get my turn."

"We are only on the one, I'm just clarifying it. Feel free to ask away."

"How did you make Harry fall in love with you?"

Emily couldn't help but grin, "Why ask such a simple question? He was meant to. He was always meant to." It was a testament to Emily's over grown ego, her overwhelming warped views on her life, that the sneakoscope once again made no sound. That, to Emily, her response held nothing but the pure truth.

"Do you think there are any remnants of my diary still inside you?"

"Every day."

"Explain further."

The young red head finally looked uncomfortable. Emily wasn't certain if it was her previous answer that achieve the girls state or the new question.

"You made me do terrible things, Emily. Horrible things that a child would never think of doing. Each time I ever think of doing something awful like that, I wonder, if maybe Harry didn't save me fast enough. That maybe I have just enough of you left inside me to tempt me into hurting people again."

The girl took a deep breath, "Is there a remnant of you inside Harry?"

Emily's eyes instantly widened in surprise and before she could think her actions through, she fired off a blasting curse at the girl's head. No one could know that information. She had to be silenced. However, once again the girls natural reflexes allowed here to shift her head in the split second of Emily's casting. A hole was still blown through the chair though. Emily's thoughts quickly caught up with her actions and she calmed herself as Ginny raised her wand to defend herself. Emily quickly held her hand in a universal peace gesture and the girl remained silent, but still armed.

"My apologies. That information is only know to three people, myself, Harry, and Dumbledore. Knowing that particular detail puts his life in danger, so I may have overreacted there."

"Why does that put him in danger?"

Emily pondered her options here. It would probably be the simplest route to end their questionnaire here. But in doing so, she would not truly impress how vitally important the information she had be kept silent. And potentially lose out on a powerful ally. For as of this moment, she knew the opinion Harry cared most about was this girl's. She had enough information on her horcrux, or rather, she was certain the young girl had nothing left to give her, so she decided to impart the truth.

"It means that, so long as Harry lives, I can not truly die."

"But earlier you said that you would die if the vow was broken. You were telling the truth."

"I didn't say I'd die, girl. I said my soul would be ripped from my body. I would not be able to return to it either. I would have to go through a long and arduous process to get another one." Emily intentionally downplayed how easy a decision it would be for her to sacrifice her current body to get him back. Unfortunately, she was seen through.

"So our vow is useless. We can't send Harry to you."

"You can, and you will."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because you love him."

Ginny's mouth dropped open. "How do you reach the conclusion that I'm going to let the man I love return to another woman's arms?"

"Because, you twit, only I can keep him safe. Dumbledore plans on eventually killing him, don't you see? While he lives I can't die, and Dumbledore has an entire organization built upon my eventual defeat. Why do you think that he wants the boy back so badly? He wants to be able to do the deed at any time, when he is most ready."

"Dumbledore would never do that. You're barking mad."

"Hah, listen to yourself. Can't you see how many times he has already tried? How many times has young Harry Potter brushed by the hands of death at Hogwarts? Under the very nose of that doddering old fool? Far more times than any other student that has ever walked the halls. You think those were all mere coincidences? Or does your headmaster have an obvious agenda that you just don't want to face."

Ginny kept quiet. Emily waited, wanting to allow the girl to process all the information and come to the conclusion that Emily wanted her to see.

"I could never believe that Albus Dumbledore would do that. Nothing you could ever say would make me believe that. But you are right. If he has to die for you to die, then he he isn't safe." Ginny rose from her seat, only to turn to look out of a nearby window. "But that's the crux of everything, isn't it. You're going to plague the country for as long as you live. Which is controlled by how long he lives. This is really a choice of what's more important, Harry Potter or getting rid of you."

The young red head's voice had lowered greatly in volume, almost as though she were thinking aloud. Ginny looked back at Emily, seemingly having made up her mind and said, "Dumbledore has already proven that he can't be there when Harry needs him the most. And if what I've heard from eavesdropping on Order meetings is true, you'll do anything, even the most terrible of things, to keep him alive. Dumbledore would never massacre over a hundred people to keep him safe."

"He wouldn't do it himself, at the very least." Emily couldn't help but bite back.

"So, the connection the two of you share... this is it?"

"Yes. I'm more than certain I don't need to tell you how imperative it is that you keep this knowledge to yourself?"

"You don't."

"Good, convince him to come to me and I will keep the man you love alive. It won't be your happy ending, rather it will be mine, but at least he will survive." Emily started moving in for the finish, but Ginny knew her far too well.

"Not happening."

"What?" Emily was almost exhausted by the girl's stubbornness.

"I know how you operate, remember. You think you can bully me into handing him over to you, but it's still going to be his choice. I'll do my best to keep him by my side."

"Fine," Emily stated with a huff. "One last thing, however. Has Harry been spending any time at length with Dumbledore this year?"

"Not that I've seen, no. Why?"

"Our connection has been, peculiar, its hard for me to sense him some days. Communicating with him through it is nigh impossible, as well. There are potions that can dull empathic links, some even sever them. I'm curious if that's what Dumbledore has been doing."

"I wouldn't know. I doubt it though."

"Fine then. Regardless, be prepared to put your best cards on the table little girl, because when he has his memories back, we shall see who he loves most."

* * *

Harry and Ron followed Emily through the halls of Malfoy Manor.

"Are we gonna die, Harry?" Ron spoke quietly.

"Shut. Up. Ron."

Finally the three of them entered the sitting room Emily had mentioned earlier, and the two boys were honestly surprised to find that there were indeed biscuits and tea on a table in the room. The direness of the situation was clear to everyone, when not even Ron dared to make a move towards the food.

"To answer your previous question, Mr. Weasley, yes, you are going to die." The boy's eyebrows nearly rose to his hairline. "Eventually anyway. But today is not that day. Harry, please take a seat over here. I will go ahead and restore your memories."

"Umm, ok?" Harry did as she asked, nervously taking the seat she gestured towards.

"Close your eyes, love. When you open them next, everything will be back to the way it was." The tone of her voice sent chills throughout Harry's nervous system. He could tell his complexion had grown several shades whiter. He was briefly terrified, until the witch waved her wand and he succumbed to darkness.

Emily smiled to herself. A perfect bit of spell work. One wave and when he woke up everything would be intact. She turned on her heel to face Ron, "Well, thank you Ronald, for escorting him here. Let's get you back to the castle, then."

Ron backpedaled away from her. "That's not how this goes. Fix his memories, then he makes a choice, remember?"

"Of course I do, and when he wakes up, he'll make his choice. To stay with me. If, in the unlikely even that he chooses differently I will send him back to Hogwarts."

"Oy, how thick do you take me for? Wave your wand once and he collapsed, for all I know you didn't even touch his memories. Easy way to get out of the vow if you don't ever plan on putting him back to rights."

"Oh do shut up." She drew her wand, lazily twirling it through her fingers, the threat clear. "You will be going back to Hogwarts, do not think to struggle. I can assure you, it won't be painless."

Emily was annoyed to find the boy wasn't even glancing at her. Instead his eyes were darting about the room erratically. As though he were trying to take stock of everything. "Well, boy? Are we doing this my way or my other way?"

It was at this moment a memory struck her. When she had been mostly bedridden in France she had asked Harry to tell her about himself and his friends. Though she didn't really care to know about them she loved the way he would smile when thinking of them.

'Wouldn't want to get on Ron's bad side. Best chess player I've ever seen. Give him enough time to think and before you make a single move, he's gotten fifteen ahead of you."

She had only began to raise her wand when he moved. And she could only stare at him in confusion as he bolted out of the door they entered through.

"I am... so lost right now."

She hadn't even had a moment to figure out what happened when a wand tip entered the room and she heard him shout, " _Solaris."_ In an instant a blinding white light seared her retina's and her vision was thorougly obscured. Her hearing was as acute as ever, as was her ability to sense magic, so when she heard his stunning spell and felt the direction it came from, she simply moved out of the way. The last spell she heard him say was the quieting charm that dispelled the sonorous charm. If used on an unaltered voice box, it would make the speech almost imperceptible.

Still, though she could no longer hear his spells, she could feel the jets of magic coming towards her, so she kept avoiding them. She could already make out blurs, soon she would be able to take charge of the situation. One of his spells flared magic at his location, baffling her, before another spell forced her to move left. It was at this point that something large and very heavy slammed into her back knocking her to the ground. She knew immediately that his first spell had been a summoning charm and his second had made sure she walked into the path of the object. Moments later she could feel Harry's presence moving away from her.

Blinking the last of the dark spots from her eyes, she stood to her feet, lifting the vanishing cabinet up as well. Apparently that had been his chosen weapon. Checking to see the cabinets condition, she noted that it was fine, just banged up. She would rectify that.

" _Reducto."_

With the cabinet now in cinders, Ronald Weasley's chances of getting Harry back to Hogwarts were borderline zero. The floos had wards to prevent unauthorized travel and he was far too young to know how to apparate. All she had to do now was chase him down.

It took her two minutes and four seconds to close the gap between them. She could have done it sooner, but was feeling gracious and didn't desire to start blasting any further holes in the Malfoy home. Ron was at a window near the edge of the property trying to open it. Judging from the burn marks surrounding the window, his first attempts had been rather volatile, but ineffective.

"End of the line, Mr. Weasley."

The young man in front of her had stopped what he was doing, only slightly tilting his head to look at her from the corner of his eye. All of a sudden an ugly look crossed his face. It was the combination of a sneer and a grimace. The look forced his eyes to looked squinted and angry and his mouth was almost in a position to issue a growl.

He whipped around with a speed that she had yet to see from him and his next spell floored her. She had underestimated his resolve.

" _Avada Kedavra"_

The weak green light hit her full frontal and gave her a migraine. She pinched the bridge of her nose and gave a soft whine of annoyance.

"Please, that was pathetic." Though she was in discomfort, she felt like she needed to address the fact that he had willing used a curse that would get him thrown into Azkaban for the rest of his life. "What possessed you to try that, anyway?"

"Only option I had left really. Unblockable, no countercurse, figured it was my best shot of getting out of here with Harry."

"Had you cast it sucessfully, it would have been. For a first attempt it was admirable. What did you use to fuel it?"

"How much I hate you."

Emily scoffed at him. "You hate me. For what? You and I have never really crossed paths before. What, do you hate me for stealing your best friend from you?"

"No, you stupid bint. I hate you for trying to kill my sister."

"Oh." She couldn't help but remain still, she had let that detail slip her mind.

"I sat in the halls of that Chamber for two hours. I couldn't hear nothing but that idiot blathering away. My best friend gone to face Slytherin's monster. My sister, possibly already dead. And when I learned that it was you, Voldemort, that had done it, I've never found it so easy to hate someone. So yeah, Harry may have hated me when he woke up, for killing you. But he would have understood it, and eventually we'd have worked through it."

Emily wanted to laugh at him, but couldn't. Because the twisting feeling in her gut reminded her that her situation in the past was almost a replica of the one Ron spoke of. Had she not murdered his family, and they somehow worked through it.

"Even though your first effort was commendable, it was never meant to succeed. Even my first attempt failed." She didn't bother to tell him it failed only because she missed. "It took Harry countless attempts to get that one down. I honestly doubt whether he could muster the gumption to use it like you just did."

"One thing I've learned from knowing Harry Potter for these years, is never doubt him. He always finds a way."

"Indeed he does, Ron. Now, time for you to get a first hand lesson on how unforgivables work."

Ron didn't even bother raising his wand. "So whats it gonna be then, Emily? Torture curse or the killing curse?"

"Neither, _Imperio."_

She watched as a glazed look over came his features. "Follow me." With another flick of her wand she took control of her lover's levitated body and lead the three of them to one of the several floo connected fireplaces in the home. She was, of course, not impeded from using them.

While she walked she couldn't help but vent. "What is it with your family, Mr. Weasley? First you sister and now you? Who will be next, I wonder. Molly will probably be knocking down my door ready to strangle me with Harry's Christmas jumper tomorrow morning. Authur coming at me with a rubber duck. If it weren't for the fact that your family is Harry's family, I'd have rid the world of you long ago. Starting with those insufferable twins. I still remember the snowballs hitting me over and over in Harry's first year. Nine hundred and fourty-six times. I counted each and every one."

She finally made it to a fireplace and issued her orders. "Take your useless red headed arse out of here and back to Hogwarts. Tell your friends Harry chose to stay."

The boy just stared at her. For a brief moment she thought something was wrong with him, but it became apparent when his face turned red that he was resisting. He couldn't break the hold of the curse, but he was trying.

"Bet you knew all along that I was going to cast the imperius curse, didn't you? Fifteen steps ahead Harry said you were. You know what its like, you felt it just two years ago, when Barty put you all through your paces. Bet you thought you could break it. But its not that easy. Even if you are expecting it. Now. Get. In. The. Fireplace." She pressed down hard on his will power and finally felt him give way to her directions. Plucking up a small amount of powder and with a monotone voice, he said "The Three Broomsticks", and was gone.

Emily gave the fireplace a scathing look then huffed and turned around. She would get Harry settled in her quarters and let him recover. Poor boy wouldn't wake up for at least twelve hours, possibly stretching out to an entire day. His head had a good deal of rearranging to do.

* * *

As the hours turn into a day and the days started increasing, Emily slowly but surely started to grow frantic. Harry remained in sleep and she had been advised by her best mediwitch to let him remain that way.

"If you force him to awaken and his brain is still recovering, you'll permanently damage him." Bellatrix told her plainly.

"It was a simple matter of reconstructing his memories, why is he still under?"

"It happens. Especially to muggles with long term or excessive exposure to memory charms. Through repeated charms and large memory loss, muggles go through what they call Alzheimer's disease. Its a condition that prevents muggle's brains from properly forming links to memories, causing past memories to be forgotten as the most recent ones are unhooked. Its an inherited illness that evolved through the ages and now shows up as they grow older even without exposure to magic."

"Your telling me that Harry has Alzheimer's?" Emily was about to blow a gasket.

"No. He does not. Or rather, he shouldn't. But any more memory charms will impact his mental abilities permanently. This last charm was on for far too long and took away far too much. Months of information, and his head wasn't in the best shape in the first place, thanks to the previous charms. He is, thankfully, young, and will recover."

Emily sighed, and sat down in the bed next to the subject of their discussion. Bellatrix Lestrange was possibly the best healer alive right now. The only reason it was in question was due to her random bouts of lurid madness. Still, it was her knowledge of healing that made her so effective in torture. She knew how far she could push and what she could fix.

"Probably the largest mistake I have ever made was the decision to use memory charms on him." She closed her eyes as she said this. She let out a deep sigh, "How long will he be unconscious?"

"Week, maybe more." Bellatrix's answer came with an almost dismissive shrug.

"So he'll more than likely miss Christmas. Just wonderful. Our first Christmas was difficult enough, and he won't even be awake for the second."

"My Lord, please forgive my curiosity, but who is this boy to you?" Bellatrix's words came out in a rush and Emily could hear the anxiety in them. Now, she supposed, was the time to break the news in to her most faithful. And hopefully not have to murder the woman to prevent her from attacking Harry out of jealousy.

"He is my fiance. We are to be married when he turns seventeen." Of course, Harry hadn't agreed to this yet, but she had a few months to change his mind.

Emily watched as Bellatrix's eyes widened in shock. Though Emily knew the woman had to have expected this answer, or at least a similar one, she assumed Bellatrix had been in denial.

"Oh... I see."

She could see the wheels in the woman's head turning. Grinding out the way for her to show her displeasure at this union without offending her lord.

"But surely you must know the boy is a half-blood, my lord? To marry him, to have a family with him, you would be tainting your proud bloodline." She stopped there, as though afraid to go further.

"True, but he is from a proud heritage as well. Direct descendant of Godric Gryffindor. I think it only fitting that our bloodlines mix."

"But my lord, what about keeping your line pure? Surely you would want a child to carry on a pure line, yes?" Bellatrix's voice was growing frantic. "I would gladly offer my husband's services to you, my lord. That way you c-"

"Yes, I'm quite certain you would be overjoyed for me to take your husband's cock." Emily abandoned all sense of propriety now. "The following night would probably be the first time you would ever touch it. It would be the closest you would ever get to sleeping with me."

Bellatrix's face grew ashen and she quickly closed her mouth, blinking rapidly. It was a strange sight. To the casual observer, it would seem as though a teen aged woman had just made another woman in her forties cry.

"Bella." Emily started off softly, "I know of your feelings for me. I know what you desire from me, and you need to understand that I can never return those feelings."

"My Lord, please," The woman had prostrated herself and bowed her head to the floor. "I never expected... I swear I never expected you to. I'm more than happy to serve faithfully. My heart will be yours forever, yes, but I have never been unhappy in my service to you."

The outright confession, Emily found, was rather painful to hear. It hadn't been so long ago that she herself was in Bella's shoes. Loving someone who could never return the feelings. The only difference between the situations was that Emily had the power to change her own fate. So what if the man she loved could never love her back. She would force him to. And she had.

"I value your service and talents more than any other in our fold, Bella. You are the only one to know of my true objective in concerns to Harry Potter." Emily rose from the bed and knelt to the floor above Bella. With a single finger, she raised the other woman's head to meet her gaze. "While he is here, asleep, I want you to guard him with your life. Let no harm come to him. Serve me well, Bella."

"Of course, my Lord."

* * *

It was just after the dawn of the tenth day that a house elf popped into the study she was working in, informing her that Harry was showing signs of waking. She was inside their room in under a minute, unceremoniously shooing Bellatrix away.

She was staring intently at his face and saw his eyelids start to flutter about. She watched them open briefly then slam shut in a hard squint. It was her close attention to his face that allowed her to notice his dry, cracked lips. He was probably dying of thirst. She quickly conjured up a glass and pour water in it. Upon hearing him hiss in pain, she turned away from her spell to see his beautiful green eyes wide open. Though he was probably unable to see a single thing.

"Slow down, love. Drink this."

A/N: And we are back from whence we came. Not too much of a side adventure, though half of their year has gone up in smoke. If anyone is wondering if Harry is gonna pick Ginny, just stop. This is a Harry/FemVoldemort story. And we will go down with this ship... White Flag. Anyway, the travelling won't resume immediately. There is some over due drama that needs to be dealt with. Harry and Voldemort's relationship is dysfunctional at its core and Harry isn't frigging happy about it. See you later.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: the plot's timeline is gonna crawl somewhat, as we reestablish the status quo. I go on vacation tomorrow, and I plan to relax and do some writing ^_^. While it won't be the crazy chapter a day that we did last year, expect at least 3 chapters over the next 10 days.

Chapter 12

"December twenty-seventh? Wow, I need to lay back down."

Emily could only look at Harry with a sense of helplessness. She had been assured that though things may be fuzzy in his head, he would more than likely have all his memories back within a few minutes of consciousness.

"Apparently, a member of the order decided it to be a wise decision to erase me from your memory. Fortunately I managed to get you back and put you to rights. Though any further modification to your memories could result in permanent damage, so I'll make certain that Dumbledore is aware of the situation."

"My head feels like I was hit by a truck. But I'm starting to fill in the blanks. Oh, God," he suddenly exclaimed. "I was actually smitten with Ginny Weasley." He started laughing weakly at it, as though he thought the entire thing to be nothing more than a moment of embarrassment. She felt the need to voice her opinion.

"I'm glad you think its funny. I was not amused."

"Sorry, my head hurts." His face paled. "And I'm actually feeling pretty queasy." He shut his eyes, and Emily knew from the changes in his breathing that something was wrong. She saw him suddenly convulse and was only just able to lean backwards before he bolted into a sitting position and vomited all over the bed. It was a vile smelling, clear liquid, probably because he hadn't eaten anything in days.

"That was... disgusting." Emily waved her wand to clean up the sick. Maybe she should have stayed away from the big news until after he had been awake for longer than a few minutes. Looking back to him she saw him flop backwards down onto the bed with a grimace marring his features. "Rest some more, I'll get the mediwitch."

It was a force of habit that she didn't reveal her followers identities. She retrieved Bellatrix quickly, but by the time they had returned Harry was once again asleep. She'd have been exasperated had she thought he had slipped back under, but she felt, and Bellatrix later confirmed, that his sleep was natural.

"He'll awaken shortly."

"Leave us."

Emily was more than well aware that the term 'shortly' was relative, that it could mean in comparison to the time he had already been sleeping. That didn't help her impatience in the slightest, however. She sat at the edge of his bed for three agonizing hours before he once again began to stir.

"Rise and shine, sleepy head."

Harry Potter returned to the realm of consciousness the second time with more grace and clarity than the first. He once again asked Emily for water, but this time it wasn't so much as thirst as a need to clear his mouth of a foul taste.

"Sorry for getting sick on you."

"It happens. Though I was, rather... put off by it, you're not well. Completely understandable, and besides, I avoided the mess."

"Good, I feel less awkward now, knowing I didn't get you." Harry smiled at her softly and she returned it. Less than a minute later she had joined him on the bed and they reacquainted themselves with one another fully. (a/n: they did the horizontal tango, for those who didnt get it.)

"God, I missed that." Emily sighed into his chest. He had too, though he didn't voice it. He was far too busy berating himself. He hadn't meant to be swept up in her tempo. Though if he were to be honest, this was how things had always been between them.

It was, in fact, how he seemed to interact with life itself. He was constantly pulled this way and that, and he never had much say in the matter. In Egypt, over half a year ago, if someone had asked him how much control he had over his own life, he may have responded with, "About as much as a married man with an overbearing wife." However, in the present, he could see he had little to no control at all. Which, he wryly thought, may have been the same as a married man with an overbearing wife.

He had told himself he had decided to go with Emily on a trip around the world. It had sounded like such a great plan. Spend some time learning magic, growing stronger. Deepening his feeling for his girlfriend and strengthening their own bonds as well as trying to chip away at the connections she had in England. But the two of them had arrived to the continent broken. For the first time, Emily had truly relied on Harry. Unreservedly. And that was where things had started to go wrong.

Emily began teaching him and he began learning. But she stopped seeing him as a boy and a student, and instead began to look at him as an equal, or rather, as close to an equal as she was able to see someone. She had relied on him, and he, in his own foolishness considered himself her equal too. Of course not, magically, but he saw that he should stand beside her from then on. It was the mutual understanding between them that led to the debacle in the pyramids, the tragedy their hotel and his kidnapping by the order. By Dumbledore himself. Emily had stopped seeing him as someone who needed to be babysat, and while it was a good thing for their relationship, it didn't change the fact that he was still barely more than a child entering a terribly dangerous, magical ancient burial ground.

As if things could only continue getting worse, he was then obliviated by Mad-Eye Moody. But Moody was no Emily, and had butchered things along the way and had then scrambled his own head so that he couldn't fix it. Last he heard, the ex-auror was still in the long term ward at St. Mungo's. So he had gone for months mentally broken before finally finding a bit of solace in a girl his own age, only for said girl to help him return to were he needed to be. It was an insane roller coaster. Crazy as could be, and he was going to have to put his foot on the brakes. To do that, he would need to take control of his own life back, and there was only one way to do that.

"Emily, we need to talk."

Emily breathed out a deep, annoyed sigh. "I know that tone of voice Harry." She didn't even move her head to look at him to know what was going on. She was a lot like Hermione that way. She began to slowly trace her fingers up and down his torso. "You want to talk about something that I don't want to talk about. So lets meet in the middle here and forget about it for tonight and revisit it tomorrow."

Had this been any other time, Harry would've happily shelved the matter, after extracting her promise of later. But Harry felt that the upcoming discussion on how he should be the one steering the broomstick of his life shouldn't be held at the leisure of his significant other. He slowly took the hand that was tracing lines across his heart and gently entwined their fingers, and let them rest over the slightly palpitating flesh, the back of her hand feeling his pulsing.

Harry did consider himself to be a gentle lover, though Emily was more than capable of igniting a fire inside of him whenever she so desired. Still, she must have sensed that his action was not an ordinary one because she did move her head so that she could look him in the eyes, while still keeping their hands in the same place.

"Or we can do it now." She said it gently, and Harry had to repress a shiver. It was rare that Emily would cave so easily, or rather, she actually never had. It was almost as though... and it clicked. Though their connection with the Horcrux had been shaky while he remained within the halls of Hogwarts and the home of the Order, right here and now she could probably feel everything. He wondered what exactly she had felt from him that made her capitulate. Was it the shame he felt at being taken to bed by her so quickly that he hadn't even desired to halt things. Maybe it was the intense contemplation as he had laid with her, post coitus, thinking about the past few months. Or perhaps most simply, had she felt his need for control and just given it to him.

"Thanks." He bent his head down to meet her lips in a kiss. Before he allowed himself enough time to lose himself in the sensation, he broke apart their lips and started to speak.

"I know the past few months have probably been terrible for you. They were pretty rough for me too, and I had it easy considering I couldn't remember you."

"At least, I knew what I was missing, Harry. You probably didn't and I'd rather not imagine how that impacted you mentally."

"Fair enough, point is, we've had it rough. We both made some pretty bad decisions that led us here, you know."

"Hah, you're joking, right? We? Lets be realistic, Harry. I made the bad decisions." It took a lot of will power for Harry to keep his shock off of his face. He had honestly thought this was going to be a quiet and simple heart to heart, or at least until he started addressing some finer points. He never expected her to start addressing them herself. Emily had pulled her hand from his grasp, rather painfully as he had tried to hold on to the best of his ability. She was now completely exposed as she stood from the bed and began walking to the center of the room.

"I've run our entire relationship, Harry. I pursued you relentlessly, never taking no for an answer. I seduced you, I pushed you and I taught you. The only thing you ever took charge of in the matter of us was your own feelings. Something I'm sure I would have tried to control eventually had you not fallen for me. I was the one who cast several memory charms on you in order to remove significant memories of your life from your head. I was the one who started to damage you. And I was the one who thought I could keep you safe in an ancient burial chamber riddled with more dark magic than I've cast over the past year."

"And since that moment, the bad decisions have only grown. I sealed you in a sarcophagus that burned you alive. I slaughtered a muggle, who begged me to spare his wife, which I tried to do. I decimated almost the entirety of the Egyptian magical law enforcement, and in doing so, destroyed the building we were in, killing the woman I had tried to let live. And the sins only grow in number from there."

She turned to him, and her glowing red eyes met his green orbs, "I murdered your aunt. I needed to, to keep you alive. I attempted to kill Ginny Weasley, an honest to god attempt. It wasn't just because she was in the way. I simply hated her and when I had the opportunity, I took it. I threw myself at our connection countless times, trying to get through to you, even though I knew it would hurt you. I just had to speak with you, even if only for a moment. I exhumed your aunt's corpse, and performed some pretty awful dark magic so that one day I can use a spell to make sure I never have to lose you again. The only good decision I've made recently was to trust Hermione Granger."

This was way more information than Harry had expected to hear. He was not surprised to hear that she had orchestrated his aunt's death. Also the attempted murder of Ginny Weasley didn't shake him too badly either. The spell that would one day save his life thanks to his aunt's corpse morbidly intrigued him. As for trusting his best friend, Harry just couldn't fathom where precisely that fit in.

"You really just can't help it, can you?" Harry moved his body so his legs rested on the floor and he was seated on the bed. "You promised me that you'd leave the Durlseys alone. How exactly did murdering my aunt save my life?"

"I barely had you clinging to life. I had to remake your body, and could only do that with a family member's flesh. She was the easiest to locate."

"Seriously? That was the best you can come up with, then? You could have done almost anything else."

"There was nothing else, you pillock. That was the only way."

"Oh come on, Emily. We live in a world of magic, and lets be honest here, you know more than just one way to keep someone alive. I've never even looked into the things you have, and I know you could have just fed me unicorn blood. Wouldn't have been pleasant, sure, but I'd have lived."

"You don't know what unicorn blood does to the body Harry. Even I would not drink in my own mortal coil. I only drank it with Quirrel's body because my time within him was temporary and he was dying due to my possession. And it strengthened he and I greatly, after the year's of isolation without a body had almost robbed me of all power."

"I know about the curse, Emily. I know you have to live a cursed life once you've consumed unicorn blood."

"Oh, sure. You know everything." She gave a single sarcastic bark of laughter. "You have no clue. The curse robs you of the ability to feel happiness. That's what it means to have a half-life. You'd have been alive, sure, but you wouldn't have been able to love me. You wouldn't have been able to be a human being. You would have turned into the monster I used to be. If you were to tell me I couldn't kill your aunt to save you, then you can't tell me to have fed you unicorn blood. Both acts are inexcusable."

"Inexcusable it may be, it was one way to keep me alive. I'm sure there were others. You just went with what was convenient. Even if that isn't the case, even if you were conflicted, you'd have gone with whatever had the best odds of succeeding. Tell me you didn't have some kind of other option."

When Emily paused, and didn't look him in the eye, he knew he'd hit the nail on the head. Suddenly she whipped her head back to his face and he could tell she was angry.

"So quick to condemn the woman who saved your life, Harry. The woman who killed for you. The woman who risked everything, for you. I could have saved my own skin and left you dead, but I risked all I had to keep you safe. Because without you, what use is everything else."

Deep down, he knew that this was one moment where he needed to be strong. Hermione had told him months ago, in regards to Ginny Weasley, that he needed to learn how to support a woman when she was strong and catch them when they were weak. Right now, Emily was showing a rare moment of weakness to him, confessing her failures to him. This was were Harry knew he needed to shelve his problems and focus on her.

But this wasn't supposed to be about her, and Harry couldn't continue letting Emily make his life about her.

"This isn't even supposed to be about you. I wanted this entire conversation to be about how everything in my life is about you, and it needs to stop! And yet, despite where I wanted this talk to go, we still somehow manage to make it about you. So fine, lets discuss you."

He took a deep breath, "Let's completely ignore the ancient history. Forget about you murdering my family and countless other's. Forget about your repeated attempts to kill me when I was younger and every single atrocity you committed up until you met me in that graveyard."

Harry was on a roll. He detailed their entire encounter in the graveyard, including every act she forced upon him. He then plowed straight into their time together during the summer when she was disguised as a muggle, once again making sure to detail every single time she took away his freedom of choice, even when she took the illusion of choice away from him. He worked his way throughout the entire year and she didn't utter a single word in her defense. She just stood in the middle of the room, still completely bare, and looked at him.

"So now that we've established that you're a severe megalomaniac with control issues, maybe we need to find away to fix some of them."

Though Harry had been waiting the entire time for her to assert that her actions were all justifiable, she hadn't made a move to. However, once he had finished his diatribe, she finally began moving towards him. She placed herself directly beside him, and entwined their hands in a very similar way to what he had done a few minutes previously.

"You're right." She spoke softly, caressing his thumb with her own. "I make mistakes, I've already admitted to that. I'm not as perfect as I once believed. Being with you for so long, and having lost you for so long, has given me the ability to see what I used to be as opposed to what I am now."

She laughed lightly, "I've been a wreck for these past few months. Emotionally and physically. My body goes through painful bouts when I don't have you near me enough, as I'm sure you remember. Sometimes I shake so hard I can't even hold a wand straight. It's eases somewhat, when our connection dulls, only to flare up randomly whenever I just so happen to feel you again."

"And that's just the side effects of my bond to you. Those effects are nothing compared the hole that opens in my chest at your absence. I've experienced many pains in my life, Harry. Up until recently I had never felt anything more painful than tearing my soul apart. Now, however, the most painful thing to me is the thought of never seeing you again. It stirs up that empty hole inside my chest making it burn at the jagged edges."

"So, yes, I have some control issues. I force my will on you without your input. I sometimes even don't share with you everything if I think its in our best interest."

Harry looked at her hard. "So where do we go from here?"

Emily gave him a sultry smile, pushing him to lay down on the bed as she straddled him. "I think you should call the shots from now on. At least, when its just the two of us. Maybe if I simply relinquish control to you, you can fix me."

Harry was unable to reply, as his mouth was quickly occupied. This time, however, he allowed her to whisk him away, too many emotions had been shared so far tonight, emotionally draining him. Though he did have questions about what she meant precisely, he was still very tired and she was touching him in the best of places.

Emily rose from the embrace of her lover only a couple hours after he had fallen asleep. Quickly making herself decent she left the room before summoning a house elf. The creatures means of travel were usually loud, and she didn't want anyone waking Harry.

"Gather all those who are part of my inner circle available here to my study. There have been some... developments."

Her study in Malfoy Manor was not as large as Lucius', but it was far more secluded and rather difficult to find. Most of her followers were on some type of assignment, so the number that were present were few.

Lucius and Narcissa, along with Bellatrix and her brother-in-law, Rabastan were some of the first to arrive. Rookwood and Mulciber joined them shortly after. Finally, the last to arrive was Parkinson.

"Thank you all for arriving at such a short notice. First off, I would like to inform those of you who do not know, we have successfully recaptured young Harry Potter. He will be staying with us here, for a short amount of time, before I resume his training." Her followers faces remained stoic and she continued. "Lucius, your son and he get along reasonably well, see to it that they occupy each other's time over the next few days."

Emily then proceeded to overhaul her previous instructions to her followers. Before, it had seemed as though she would be staying around to micro manage things, and wouldn't need to leave standing instructions and a pecking order. However, with her departure imminent, she would have to reestablish things.

She got over everything quickly enough before dismissing everyone save for Bellatrix and Narcissa. Emily beckoned the sisters to take a seat on a newly conjured couch, while Emily herself remained standing.

"I have some tasks I would like the two of you to see to."

Narcissa only nodded her head, but Bella was more expressive. "Of course, my Lord." She replied with a large smile.

"Narcissa, I want you and your husband to pressure Draco into being a closer confidante to Harry. I know I said earlier that the two of them do get along well enough, but they could do better. I wish for Harry to have someone he can speak to, if he wishes, and, because I know your wondering, no, I have no interest in prying into their relationship. I expect him to keep Harry's secrets, as well as you all keep mine, even from myself."

"I will be happy to tell him."

"Excellent. Bella, from you I will be needing a few more things. One, please return the item I've entrusted you with back to where it came. It serves me little purpose here now, keep it safe. Next, I want you to coach Harry in some of the finer points in healing. My knowledge of the art is only passable, any truly powerful healing arts I know of, well they're not really charms such as they are dark magicks. I have given him proper instruction into the dark arts, of course, you'll find him to be quite proficient, but I will instruct him further personally in that area." Once seeing Bellatrix's nod at her understanding of these duties, Emily turned to Narcissa again. "Narcissa, please leave us, this final task is for your sister's ears only."

Once Narcissa exited the room, Emily took the seat the woman had vacated next to her most faithful follower. Rarely would Emily ever feel guilt, honestly, until recently, she wondered if she ever had before. But the past year and a half had been a long period of emotional development for her, and she knew what she was about to ask Bella to do was going to be difficult for the woman. If it weren't for the fact that what she was going to ask the woman to do would benefit her, she may not have even bothered.

"Harry Potter is a secretive individual. He rarely exposes his true thoughts and emotions to me. He is very guarded when we interact. While you are teaching him, I want you to bring up our engagement and upcoming marriage and then inform me how he reacts." Of course, she hadn't really discussed this with Harry, but she felt she would much rather throw Bella into an awkward situation with Harry, rather than herself.

She had brought up matrimony before with Harry, and he had balked. She didn't really blame him, as the concept sounded terrible and restricting. But when she thought of the act between herself and Harry, well the entire thing seemed painfully enticing. The idea of the two of them vowing to remain together until death was beautiful. Even more so when she had no plans on allowing either herself or him to die. The thought of spending a century with him was blissful. The thought of a millennia was addicting. She wanted that.

So she would use Bellatrix to find out just how he felt about the idea. If his response was similar to what it had been in the past, then she'd improvise. If he was more accepting, she'd pop the question. She had been honest with Harry when she had told him that she'd had done a great deal of reflection over the past few months. Some of it done when her pain was at its zenith. It was in these moments where she had been willing to forsake everything to get him back. Her plans, her followers, all of it was inconsequential to his presence.

Emily's memory was pristine, without any gaps. She could recall the pain and happiness he could bestow on her. Once she came to that conclusion, she realized that she would truly need to meet Harry Potter at some form of middle ground. He was young now, and head over heels for her. But time would curb those emotions for him over time. While she did not doubt that his love would remain steadfast, she knew he may not always remain so passionate for her. Once the rose tinted lenses came off, he may see her for what she truly is. An irredeemable monster. Whether or not a higher power existed that would hold her accountable for her misdeeds, mattered little to her. The only one who could be her judge and executioner would be Harry Potter. Should he decide to pull away from her, it would be no less than a death sentence.

After dismissing Bellatrix to go about her business, Emily sat down at the her wide desk. 'How odd,' she mused, 'that all of my enemies could probably never imagine that I, who was once the most feared Dark Lord, would have spent as much time behind a desk as I did committing murder.' Leaning back in her comfortable chair she remain deep in thought. Time to sort out the priorities, in order.

Step one, create a horcrux for Harry Potter. This was to be her most pressing priority once Harry took them abroad again. While she may allow him to direct their time together from now on, this was the one thing that she must accomplish. She already had several ideas on the back burner on how to do this. After all, there were a few ways to tear a soul, her method was simply the easiest. Though she felt more than capable of driving Harry to commit a murder, she felt that doing so would overstep the 'control' she was giving him. No, she would have to diversify.

Step two, matrimony. Marrying Harry was little more than a matter of patience. While she was unsure of his stance on the matter at the moment, they both knew it was an imminent eventuality.

Step three was were things started to be less set in stone. She needed to remove Albus Dumbledore from the picture. The old coot and his order of fools were the only ones who knew who she truly was. She couldn't fathom as to why the old man hadn't revealed her true face to the ministry, but she wouldn't kick a gift horse in the mouth. The only time she had ever been exposed to the public had been during the fight at the ministry and she immediately turned incorporeal in a last ditch effort to get to Harry.

While the world knew of her return, they only knew her by the image of Undersecretary Hurst, her former disguise. Getting rid, or at least cutting off the head, of the Order of the Phoenix would give her enough security to become a public figure. Of course, the few people who did know her secret might try to oust her, but she would deal with them as they came to light. Even if they did, with the word of Harry Potter backing her, who would believe them. Even her red irises, which would normally be a dead give away, wouldn't impede her. Only two people who weren't loyal to her had ever seen her eyes and lived longer than the encounter. Her past ingenuity was paying dividends now. Always operating in the shadows and using proxies had mostly hidden her visage from the world. Even now, almost two decades later, she was still primarily anonymous with only exaggerated and vague accounts of her appearance.

Step four was a vague, live happily ever after. With Dumbledore out of the picture, she could take over wizarding Britain easily. Being the wife of Harry Potter would make the most insurmountable walls crumble to dust. Add the backing of some of the most influential members of society and a political take over would be simple. After that, all she'd have to do is pass a handful of laws to give the purebloods what she promised them and still look out for the basic rights of muggleborns and muggles. Keep both her followers and Harry happy. Easy win. World conquest would commence after that.

"Here I am, once again, making all of these plans." Emily spoke to herself softly. "I should have figured out from the first round that plans and Harry Potter never mix." Emily leaned even further back in the chair, the piece of furniture now bent in a most unnatural way, confirming it magical origins. "Its a shame I can't make a plan for my only weakness."

At one point in her life, Emily would have described herself as invulnerable. Now however, with her greatest downfall happening at the muggle born hands of her lover's mother, she was aware there were a few chinks to her armor. But she had to admit that there existed a gaping hole in her breastplate. Her love for Harry Potter was her greatest weakness.

When she had first learned of the prophecy with him months ago, her first instinct had been to flee. Forget all of her dreams and run away with Harry. Better to do that than to be forced to kill him or be killed by him. Even now, her decision had not changed. Should the prophecy show any merit of being a foretold truth, she would snatch him up and flee to the other side of the world. She'd live with him surrounded by muggles if she had to. She would hate it, but it would be bearable if he were with her.

Emily snapped her eyes open and stood from her chair. "Alright. Priorities officially in order. Harry comes first." She gave a short sigh, and whispered, "He will always come first." With that declaration to herself, she left her study to return to her bed. After all, said bed had a perfect item within it for cuddling.

A/N: So, ickle Emmy has hit emotional puberty, hoo ray. As I am sure some of you might believe that this means that she should evolve into a better person, it won't. She's still a tyrannical cunt. However, she's now gonna follow the good ole WWHD, what would Harry do. In the past, she'd make a mess and then clean it up before Harry would see it, and then pretend it never happened. But now, when the opportunity to make a mess appears before her, she's gonna think, "Will this be good for Harry?" So yeah, on paper, she IS gonna do a lot less shitty things and be a better person. But she's gonna still be black on the inside.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

It was two weeks later that Harry told Emily he was ready to travel again. She had honestly expected him to make the announcement sooner, but he had been rather apprehensive with the new found role of leadership.

"Emily?"

"Yes dear?"

The two were in Emily's quarters, Emily seated on the floor with several ancient texts surrounding her as she perused them each in a rather chaotic order. Harry was memorizing a list of incantations that she had prepared for him while attempting their wand movements.

"When will we be leaving again?"

"When ever you want love." She took a moment to flash her lover a brilliant smile. The kind that she could only form when he was with her.

"Whenever _I_ want?"

She scoffed lightly. "'Yes, whenever _you_ want. I already told you that you're calling the shots. I only plan on taking over should we run into a crisis. Until then, this is your show to run."

The next day he said they should head off to the US. When she asked him why on earth he wanted to go across the pond, he replied with, "Who doesn't want to see how the yanks live?" The two set off the day after.

International travel was a rather large pain in the ass for Emily. Portkeys only worked over a couple thousand miles and Floo's just didn't not connect through bodies of water. There was simply no quick way to travel across the world using magical means. So Emily, grumpily lead Harry to an airport in Heathrow, London.

"I truly hate travelling like a muggle." She griped to him as they fastened themselves into their chairs. There was little need for paperwork or fare, as Emily was quick to confund or imperius anyone she needed to to keep things proceeding quickly. "These infernal metal contraptions are the height of muggle idiocy. Countless things can go wrong and send the entire aeroplane crashing to the earth. Its not like magic, Harry. There are no back up charms, no fail safes. All of these muggles just jump onto this thing and pray they survive."

"Calm down, Emily. I thought you were immortal? Why are you acting so scared?"

"Because I am terrified." She watched his eyes grow wide. "You clearly seem to forget that my greatest fear is no longer dying. Its losing you. I will be perfectly fine, should this plane go down, Harry. You, on the other hand, will surely perish if I do not put forth any effort to save you."

"Oh." His eloquent response did nothing to brighten her mood, rather it only made her agitation worse. While she did have a respect and wariness for the power of muggle science, she also knew that the vast majority of it all was beyond her realm of understanding. She could of course, understand the basic properties of an aeroplane. Wings, lift, drag etc. That was all elementary. But ask her to explain the combustible engine that moved the turbines in the contraption and she'd be lost.

"Don't worry about it, Emily. I trust that you can get us out of any bad situation that may crop up."

She didn't bother answering. In this instance Harry would never realize how much he was showing off his muggle upbringing. And it had nothing to do with his faith in their technology. It was the fact that he didn't realize that no magic could help them should the worst occur. She couldn't use spatial magic when traveling at several hundred miles an hour. They didn't occupy a single space long enough for apparition or a portkey to move them. She couldn't levitate something she was inside of, she had to outside of it to cast the charm at its center of mass.

No, if the plane were to plummet from the sky, she'd have to rip off their harnesses, blast a hole in the plane, then fling herself and Harry out of it. Only then would she be able to levitate him and use her own magic to fly. Even though she had a rudimentary plan should things take a nasty turn, she was still aware that things could go wrong. What if, when she and Harry hit the atmosphere they separated too much for her to magic his flight. If she succeeding in getting herself to fly and failed to get him, it would only take a split second for him to be too far away to save him.

Though his faith in her was unshakable, she wanted to inform him why it shouldn't be. But she was loathe to cause him discomfort, and if he thought nothing would go wrong, then she was more than happy with him thinking that.

Fortunately for the both of them, the twelve hour long flight ended easily enough. Emily did have one mild panic attack when a rough bout of turbulence shook the plane violently. She had been certain that the engine had exploded and jerked out of her seat. Should she still have been buckled in, the restraints would have been ripped off. She had been in the process of drawing her wand to enact her before mentioned plan, when Harry gently wrapped his fingers around her wrist. She calmed enough for the flight attendant to assure her that plane's rough movement was nothing more that the wind currents.

In either case, she found herself more than relieved once they landed in Washington, D.C. She decided to land in the capital for several reasons. One, it was on the coast, closer to Britain, meaning a shorter flight. Two, it was a rather touristy spot, something Harry had already expressed a desire to explore. She clearly remembered his excitement in France. She felt if Harry did take control of things, she might as well get the exploration done first. Then they could focus on his education.

The capital of the United States proved to be a bit daunting to Harry however. It was overwhelmingly pack with people, though, to be fair, so had Paris been. The only difference was, Harry had a chance to acclimate himself with France. They stayed for a bit of time in that small village they had washed up on. Harry interacted with the local populace because she couldn't. And with Egypt, well, their stay hadn't lasted long enough for it to warrant any exploration.

Emily wasted no time in directing the two of them towards the magical part of the District of Columbia. It was a relatively small area, mostly government building where the witches and wizards interacted with key muggle politicians. The ones in the know, as it were. When Emily explained this to Harry, he was shocked.

"Wait! So your telling me that some muggles know about us?"

"Of course. The most integral government officials know about us. The President of this country for one. The muggle Prime Minister in Britain. It allows the magical community to remain even more of a secret when we can collaborate with the government."

"But isn't that, well, isn't that proof that we could co-exist? If the most powerful people of the country know about us and are fine with it, then why bother with the statute of secrecy at all?"

Emily smiled at him, placing an arm around his shoulder to steer him down a street lined with tall brick buildings. "Oh Harry. The reason it works is because muggles refuse to believe in magic unless its thrown in their faces. If the President of this country started ranting to their public that there was a secret society of magical people hiding among them, he'd be thrown out of his office and into an asylum. When I say the most integral government officials, I mean three people at most in the entire country."

"Oh." Emily kept guiding the two of them to their accommodations, for their brief stay. She knew he was still pondering the issue because he remained silent, and she could feel his thoughts running about his mind. She reveled in the feeling. Having him close enough to her again to feel every emotion he felt was an extravagance that she had taken for granted once upon a time. She wouldn't make the mistake again. Every time his mind touched hers she basked in the warmth their connection filled her with.

Emily still waited for whatever potions Dumbledore had him on to fade from his system, for their connection was still splotchy. Of course, while they were touching, there were no problems and the feelings flowed from him like they had back in the graveyard almost a year and a half ago. But without skin on skin contact, his presence dipped in and out. It was uncomfortable. Several times she had almost panicked when he vanished completely from her mind, only to see him right next to her. She detested it.

Finally making their way to a small inn, Emily made her way inside, asking for the reservation under Emily Potter. Harry shot her a look when he heard the name, but she just smiled at him. She had been dropping gentle hints like this ever since Bellatrix informed her of Harry's reaction to their engagement.

"Decently done, Potter. You're not twisting your wrist far enough, however. Still, the charm would have worked well enough. May not have sufficiently mended the skin, but the person would have survived."

"Great. Thanks for, um, showing me all this, Mrs. Lestrange."

"Your welcome. But you should save your thanks for the Dark Lord. It was she who instructed me to pass on this knowledge."

"She didn't want to teach me herself?"

"No, her expertise isn't as advanced as mine. Though her ability in healing is far greater, but the methods she uses... aren't normal spells. I've seen the Dark Lord replace entire limbs removed with dark magic, something that should be impossible. She is... the single greatest magical force in the world."

"Yeah. Emily's amazing."

"Emily... You call our master by her first name. Your relationship must be quite close, yes?"

"Er... yeah, we are pretty close."

"Yes, you must be, after all, the two of you are to be wed in the summer. Are you nervous?"

"Wed? Um, well, no, I'm not nervous."

"Excited then?"

"Lets just say I haven't given it much thought."

"You're marrying our Lord. How does the knowledge of that not remain on your mind at all times? How can you not think about it?"

"Well, there's no point in it really. I've kinda known that the two of us would wind up in this scenario since day one really. She's been very insistent on it."

"Oh... well that's lovely then. If you'll excuse me, we'll continue your lessons tomorrow."

Emily had been informed shortly after that her lover was resigned to the idea of their marriage. So resigned that she felt she had a good shot of getting a proposal from him, if she kept dropping the hint. So far, her labors hadn't born fruit, but it was barely the middle of January. If she wanted a wedding on July 31st then she had time.

"Ah, yes, we have you under the honeymoon suite. Please follow me."

Emily heard Harry sigh exasperatedly and figured he had probably gotten the message. Which was good, he tended to be dense. Once they were secure in their rooms, she turned to her lover and asked him to take a seat.

Harry settled onto one of the armchairs and asked her with a smile, "What's up? First thing you do when we get in a room together isn't try to shag me. Do I need to be worried?"

"No, but we do need to talk."

She watched his face lose the smile and become grim. "Alright. Let's talk."

"Good. This is important. You know that I love you more than anything in this world, right?"

"Of course."

"And I would do absolutely anything for you, regardless of the price?"

"I know."

"And I hope you would do the same for me? Wouldn't you, love?"

"Yes, you know I would."

"I need you to split your soul for me."

A short pause. "Come again?"

"I want you to make a horcrux for me."

"No."

"Baby, you said you would do anything for me, and this is something I need."

"How? You need me to split my soul and stuff it into some random object? Why on earth is that something that you need?"

"Because if I lose you, I will set this entire world on fire in my anger and grief."

She watched as his mouth opened for a few seconds and then close. He stared into her eyes, not blinking. "I don't think I could ever kill someone in the manner I would need to, to create a horcrux. I know you taught me how to, but I could never enjoy the act, love. I just, I don't have it in me."

"What if I told you there were other ways to do it? What if I told you there were other acts that would achieve the desired effect? Ways that didn't end a life."

"I would be willing to try, but Emily, if its an act that's akin to murder, I still don't know if that's something I can do. God, Emily, I... I'd be willing to split my soul for you, but I don't know if I can commit an act like that. What are we talking about exactly? What other ways are there?"

"Most ways do take acts that you won't be willing to do. Murder and rape are the two most common, and of course the two I know you wouldn't do. You'd never murder someone, and I'd have committed my own act murder before you got far enough through option two."

"That's... brutal. Thanks for being willing to prevent me from committing, uh, that. So, what other options are there?"

"Well, there is one. An act that even the muggles acknowledge as verifiable insanity."

"Dance around the bush some more, please."

"Suicide."

He shot her a look wondering if she'd lost her common sense. "Yeah, seems counterproductive."

"It is, its a terrible act. Murder and rape can be redeemed through remorse, the soul can mend from those actions. But suicide is irredeemable. There is no way to heal a soul from an act that removes it from the body."

"Which is why it seems counterproductive. Please tell me the rest of your plan. You wouldn't be talking about this if you didn't have more of a plan."

Emily fidgeted at this. She never would have decided to go down this route if it weren't for the fact that she had promised him more control of his life. She knew he wouldn't do this the simple way, knew he wouldn't be capable of it, in fact. So she'd thought of a rather drawn out, but effective plan.

"There's... a jinx."

"A jinx? Something that'll make me off myself, and yet, keep me alive?"

"No, the act of suicide has to be a choice, otherwise I'd imperius you, have you slit your wrists, then just heal the wounds. Simple and clean, and I've have the horcrux made by tomorrow."

"You know what, just explain everything. I'll just listen quietly."

"So, there's a jinx that I am rather proficient with. Its most commonly known as the suicide jinx. I've actually cast it fairly recently, when I was an employee at the ministry. Of course, on Dolores, who's a prideful cunt, the effects weren't strong enough to display its true purpose and end result. But on you love, well, you've always been humble. You never take the credit you're due. Your self esteem has always been pathetic." Harry made a strange gargled noise, as though he was squashing the retort he had to what she said.

"So I apply the jinx to you, keep it strong. Watch you every second of the day from the first cast. When the jinx's effectiveness finally gets you to take your own life, I'll stop the act, fix the damage, and then create the horcrux."

She watched him remain quiet, mulling the idea over. "Emily, I trust you. If you believe you can pull this off, then lets do it."

"This won't be a walk in the park, Harry. Its going to make you feel terrible. If there's any consolation, I will be with you every step of the way, able to feel what you feel. Together we'll make it through this. Once its done, you and I will have eternity ahead of us."

"You don't need to sweet talk me anymore Emily. I know that deep down, this needs to happen. Otherwise, one day, I'm going to die. And I won't be next to you anymore. If we are getting married this summer, then I should do my best to make certain that death never parts us."

"Oh, marriage? How rude of you to just assume that I'll marry you."

"Er, but didn't you-"

"Harry, use your head for me here. I won't spell it out for you."

"Uh... oh, erm, Emily. Will you marry me?"

"No, not with a proposal like that. Don't you think I deserve something far more grand than a fumbled question?"

"Are you serious right now? You've been dropping hints and the like for the past week, and when I finally ask, you say no? Fine, then, I guess I'll just take it b-"

"Accepted." The question was finally popped, no sense in letting him rescind it due to her pride. "I expect a ring tomorrow. Now, begone. I need to do a bit of research before I cast the jinx. I refuse to use a spell on you until I've gone over every single aspect of it."

"Ok. I'm going to head out into town."

"What for?" she queried him, not wanting him to be alone in a new city.

"Um, hello, you just said you wanted a ring. I'm going to go pick one up."

"Harry, an engagement ring will put you back well over a hundred galleons. Do you even have that kind of money on you?"

"Wow, a hundred galleons?! Why are they so expensive?"

"Because most of them have a diamond on them."

"Oh, well, no, I don't have that on me."

"I didn't think so, stay here with me and work on some advanced transfiguration." With that Emily pulled out a galleon, and flicked it in the air. Waving her wand, a silvery jet impacted the coin at the height of its flight, pushing it further into the air before it began its decent into Harry's waiting palm.

"I just destroyed the goblin magic on that, so make me a ring from scratch. The more extravagant the better, I'll want to show it off."

"To who? You don't exactly have any friends."

Emily gave him a dark look, "Get to work and leave me be."

"Yes Ma'am."

Emily began going through their bags, before pulling out what seemed to be a decorative bookend. She then enlarged it and the ornament turned into a massive bookcase.

"Blimey, Emily. Why do you even have this with you?"

"I always have my vast collection of dark texts with me love. This is just the first time you've seen it. Normally I'd just summon the book I need and it would come out of my bag already enlarged. But seeing as I'm not certain where the spell I am looking for is, I'll have to do this the hard way."

She could feel his understanding through a fresh wave of emotion from their bond, it had strengthened suddenly. She heard him gently walk towards the love seat, placing the ring beside him while he screwed up his eyes in concentration. Gold was a powerful magical conductor, but bending the precious metal to his will would require a large amount of work. It would keep him busy and occupied for the night.

Emily was already regretting her decision to use the jinx in question. Harry had been through a great deal of emotional trauma in his life, much of it by her own hands. She loathed the idea of being the cause of even more heart ache in her lover's life, but it was necessary. Once he was fully protected from the clutches of death, then she could devote the rest of her life to world domination and making certain he never suffered again.

After a handful of hours, Emily found the book she was looking for, 'Malicious Mental Magicks'. The suicide jinx was located right near the end. The information was primarily the same that she had remembered. But the side effects of the curse once again had her second guessing her plan.

Victims of the curse are prone to anxiety and panic attacks. Long term exposure can induce vibrant hallucinations. She vaguely remembered that Dolores would occasionally burst into tears and hysterics at random intervals at the office. Some cases even had violent outbursts. She'd have to be wary of that one. Should Harry hurt or kill someone while under the jinx's effects, he'd never forgive himself. He may not ever forgive her. Fortunately, as long as death was avoided, it seemed as though all negative effects were one hundred percent temporary. He'd be in for a long and painful recovery, but together, they'd pull through.

Placing all of her materials back in her bag, she turned to find Harry passed out on the love seat he had been working on. She gently levitated his body in the air, noticing as a small golden trinket fell to the floor. She ignored it, completely focused on getting her newfound fiance into a bed. Once he was snug and warm, she returned to the love seat and picked up the glittering trinket.

The piece of jewelry took her breath away. Clearly Harry had a rather astonishing talent for this, he would have made a fortune as a magical artisan. The gold band was rather simple at first glance, but Harry had somehow managed to engrave their upcoming initials onto the inside of the band: E.P. & H.P. But that was only the start of it. He had indeed crafted a beautiful setting for it. The gold had been warped thinly several times over to clearly show a blossoming rose. And at the center of the blossoming rose was a diamond, wrapped in golden petals.

"Where in God's name did you find a diamond here, Harry?"

He couldn't have transfigured it, such spells normally weren't permanent and would eventually break. Jumping elements violated the basics of Gramps Laws. As such, all such attempts reverted back to their orignal composition with time. Gazing into her lover's sleeping face, she found her answer. His glasses were missing a lens. He had transfigured the glass lens into the shape of a precious jewel. But it looked so real. He must have shattered the glass and pieced it together from scratch. Clearly it was a work of art that he had spent hours on.

"You sweet, sweet boy. How is it that I can love you with every fiber of my being, and yet still find myself loving you more." She conjured a black velvet jewelry box and placed the ring inside of it. She placed the box inside of the trousers she laid out for him to wear the next day. Normally she never would have done such a thing, but she wanted him to give the ring to her personally, so she'd have the chance to pounce on him.

She gently placed herself beside him and eventually her breathing leveled out to match his own.

* * *

Harry woke up rather disoriented the next day. He didn't recognize the ceiling he was looking at. Normally this would be disconcerting, but he did recognize the smell of the young woman beside him.

"About time you woke up, Harry."

"Sorry, what time is it."

"Not too certain, but I would wager its past ten."

"Oops. Guess we slept in."

He slowly pulled himself up stretching as he looked around. Slowly his memories of the night before came back and he panicked, not knowing where he'd placed the engagement ring for Emily. Not wanting to ruin the surprise, he whisper hastily to her, "Be right back," and grabbed the first piece of clothing he saw. As he was pulling the trousers on he felt the small lump in one of the pockets, and when he pulled it out, he knew his surprise had been ruined. He glanced back at the woman on the bed and saw her obvious anticipation and threw caution to the wind.

Harry got down on one knee, as he'd seen the muggles do the few times he'd seen a television program at the Durleys, and held out his hand for Emily's. She placed her hand in his and her immediate smile was almost blinding in its radiance. He knew she was practically over the moon, for what came next.

"Emily, will you marry me?"

Despite all the whining she had done the previous day, she didn't even bother answering him. Reversing their hand's grips so that his was in her own, she pulled him bodily onto the bed and attacked his lips fervently. It took well over a minute before she calmed down enough to speak.

"Yes, now for the love of magic, lose the fucking pants."

* * *

For the first time in a very long time, Harry found himself sour after their bout of lovemaking. She had been incredibly rough with him, more so than usual. Harry found the little bit of pain to be even more pleasurable and briefly wondered if he was a masochist.

"Of course I am. I'm engaged to Emily Riddle," he muttered softly.

"What's that love?"

"Hmm? Oh, nothing, just musing aloud. How are you?"

"Better than I have been in a long while. Thanks to you of course."

He smiled, nothing else was quite like the stroke to his ego when she complemented his bedroom skills. Though, to be fair, she could have meant the question he popped earlier. Both were quite reasonably the answer.

"So did you finished your reading last night?"

He watched as the smile on her face slid off. "Yes, I did. I'm ready to cast the jinx on you at any time, but lets save it for a different day. I don't want to mar the day you proposed to me with the memory of this."

"Is the effect really so sudden?"

"No, you'll likely not feel any different throughout the process, which will be very gradual, so that's expected."

"Then lets go ahead and cast it. We'll make today the true beginning of the rest of our, hopefully, ridiculously long lives."

He could see she was apprehensive about it. "Emily, the sooner it happens, the sooner its over. We'll get through this quickly enough."

"You're right. I just hate it. Its a terrible curse, and I'm the person putting you through this, all because I'm terrified of losing you."

Harry sat up in the bed. "Come on, that's not the only reason. I also want this. I want to get this over with so we can spend forever together. This isn't just your selfish decision, its our selfish decision."

She looked at him in a way that made him think she was going to tear off his clothes again, if he were wearing any. Her eyes softened quickly enough and with a gentle kiss to his face, she pulled out her wand. She didn't even bother sitting up. "I love you, Harry Potter."

'Misemordium'

'Mordrempdes'


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: We're heading closer to the finale of book 2. Though we've several more chapters to go.

Chapter 14

Harry Potter was feeling pretty good.

It had been two weeks since Emily had subjected him to the suicide jinx, making sure to recast it every single morning. She had yet to be further away from him than ten feet. When he asked her about it, just this morning, she had told him that she was able to feel his depression before he could.

"I feel the negativity creeping up on you sometimes. I can't stand just letting it happen, so I stay with you, to keep you as happy as I can. I've stayed beside you closely because of the times I don't sense it through our link, but I see it in your face. You get pensive, silent. You get broody and moody. I notice everything about you, and once again, I do my best to keep you as happy as possible."

He had told her thanks and kept reading his book. It was starting to grate on his nerves, though. Her constant presence that is. Maybe he should tell her that he thought her jinx wasn't working. She knew him well enough, sometimes he got moody. In all honesty, her overbearing attitude was really what he wanted to get away from. It was her ever present need for control all over again. She was never going to change.

"Harry love. Look at me."

Here she was again. "What Emily? I'm trying to get through the work you've set for me."

"I could feel your mood taking a turn, love. Lets take a break from this."

"No, Emily. I really just want to get through this. Can you leave me alone for a bit."

"Harry, its the jinx. Its making you irritable. Its only going to get worse and worse over the next couple of weeks. Come on, lets take a breather."

He turned away from her, ignoring her. If she wasn't going to listen to what he was saying, then he wouldn't listen to here.

"Harry, I know you're agitated. You can keep reading, but please talk to me for just a moment."

Harry mentally groaned. Trying as she may be, he did love her dearly. He would put up with her.

"Fine, Emily. Lets talk."

Emily sighed. It was getting harder and harder to break through his bad moods. Harry's self worth was already rather low. The jinx had spiraled him immediately into anger, or rather, agitation. There were at least three times a day now when he would become aggravated enough to get snippy with her. And she had to deal with it the best she could, because it was all her doing. But she was so confused, as to why things where happening this way.

Harry wasn't showing the obvious signs of depression he should have been. He hadn't been crying or moping. Just agitation and that was it. It had gotten to the point where she was wondering if he was somehow like Dolores Umbridge. Somehow immune to the powerful effects of the curse. But there was no way that was possible. While Harry may not have been like his dear friend Ron, who was writhing in insecurity, he was still a teenaged boy with his own problems with low self esteem.

Gently twisting her engagement ring around her finger, she could only mentally run around in circles. She debated calling the entire thing off. This was doing nothing more than placing a strain on their relationship. She could feel the resentment he felt when she touched him, when she opened herself up to all the emotions he was feeling. Something was impeding his progress and she wanted to stop everything until she could find out why.

The only reason she had done nothing thus far, was because the curse had been in effect for over two weeks now. It would have been a lot of time and progress wasted should she not be able to find an answer. And she was more than certain that there was an answer out there for them. She was just missing it.

Unfortunately for her, the next day showed an immediate and terribly unwelcome change. She had been resting beside him, and in a rare moment had actually fallen asleep. When she awoke the room was empty. What was worse? She couldn't even feel his presence. She searched their entire apartment in less than a minute and when she still couldn't find him she ran out of the building. After running among the small magical community for a small few minutes, she panicked and threw her mind at their connection, forcing her view through his. Suddenly she could see the entire street, could even see her own panicked self from above. Breaking the connection she looked up, only to find his body keeling over the side of the building he had been looking at her from.

"Damn."

Shoving her way into his head so suddenly had caused him to lose consciousness. Still his life was in no sort of danger, he had only just begun falling and his trajectory would take him withing twenty feet of her. She easily cast a charm on his body as it came down close to her. Though a couple of bystanders did look at her strangely.

"He's a bit under the weather. The onset of Spattergoit has made him a little bit loopy."

She was given a wide berth after that. No one wanted to potentially contract a deadly virus such as that.

She made her way back to their rooms with no problems, having switched to carrying him bridal style. "One of these days Harry, I'm going to expect you to carry me through a doorway like this."

As though her voice was calling to him, he started to stir. "E-Emily."

She could hear the discomfort in his voice, and knew the pain in his head had yet to completely subside. "Yes, love. I'm sorry for doing that. I just... didn't know where you had gone. I was scared."

She watched as he blinked his eyes several times, slowly gaining clarity. "Put me down," he told her sternly.

Emily, who wasn't in the best of moods as it was, didn't like his tone. And, for just this moment, she forgot to placate his mood.

"No, I don't think I will. What in the hell were you doing on top of that building, Harry? Were you going to jump?"

"Jump? Of course not, you daft woman. I wanted to get some space. You're always so close, so oppressive that I'm surprised you haven't crawled halfway up my arse by now. I just needed some time to myself. Time to think."

"Oh, time to think is it? Maybe you should think about how I would feel when I woke up to find you gone? When you're under the influence of a jinx that is going to eventually drive you to take your own life. Maybe you should think more about us, how we are in this together. You know I need to be with you at al-"

"No, Emily, you don't. In case you haven't noticed, your jinx isn't even working. I'm not depressed, just annoyed. And its not even the jinx, its you. You're still just as controlling as you have always been."

Emily was being floored at the moment. So he had noticed that things weren't working quite like they were supposed to as well. She slowly set him on his feet. "Harry, lets just give it some more time. I'm more than certain the jinx was done properly. It just seems as though you may be immune. Let's just leave it on you a little bit longer."

She reached out for him both physically and mentally, wanting him to feel comforted by her touch and wanting to know how he was feeling. The mental link connected first, and she could only feel him lose his self control when she reached out for him.

"Fuck off!"

Harry smacked her arms away. Backpedaling a few steps, he continued. "You want to keep that damn jinx on me to kill me. You just can't bare to do the act yourself. Come on Emily, lets be honest, you're still terrified of death. And we both know you still believe in that prophecy."

Emily could feel the waves of paranoia rolling off of him. Choking and blocking off all of his other emotions as his panic attack took over. She had to slam the link closed as the panic started to feed into her own emotions. Even so, more than enough had gotten in to make her hands tremble and her breathing irregular. She closed her eyes, for just a moment, to reign everything, to retain a calm demeanor, when she heard him make a quick movement.

As soon as Harry saw Emily take a deep breath and close her eyes, he acted. Pulling his wand from his pocket, he sprint kicked his way to the door. If there was one physical aspect Harry felt comfortable vying against Emily it was speed. He kept his gaze and wand locked on her face as he made his way for the door. As soon as her eyes snapped open, he fired off a knock back jinx.

"Flippendo."

The simple first year spell did its job admirably, pushing Emily backwards and off balance enough so that when she swept an arm out to grab him, he was able to duck under it. His mind was a cacophony of noise. He couldn't even hear himself think. The only thought he could really make out was, 'gotta get out, gotta get away.' So he bolted through the door and tore down the steps. He had only just made it out the doorway before a stunner caught him in the face, lifting him off of his legs before slamming him into the ground.

"You hit me in the face. I now hit back."

Emily picked him up quickly. Twice now in a matter of minutes, Harry had entered unconsciousness. This entire situation was annoying. Two individuals out in the street exchanging spell fire, even if it was only a single spell, the MACUSA hit wizards would be en route. She'd have to get them out of here. Hopefully the fake names of Emily Potter and Henry Potter fell through the cracks and did not make there way back to Dumbledore. She didn't want the old man finding out where they were. But, knowing her luck, he'd know soon enough.

She hadn't expected a panic attack to come over him so quickly. She had expected to have a chance to talk him down, but it was almost like a snap decision. It had overcome him and just immediately took over. He had been beyond irrational.

"Can't afford something like that again, love." She'd have to get them somewhere secluded. Thankfully she knew of a handful of places. One not too far away.

Ilvermony was the finest educational institution in the states, even going so far as to accept students from Canada and Mexico. As such, the school had to be massive. It was rare that the magical population inside the school dipped under two thousand. The location of Ilvermony was atop Mount Greylock and was run quite similar to Hogwarts. And of course, just like Hogwarts, there were many areas around the school that were quite dangerous. One such area that Emily had another little base.

This base of hers was an underground bunker. It had originally been built and maintained by an insane muggle that believed the world was on the brink of destruction. Some nonsense about the Russians dropping bombs. Emily hadn't paid too much attention to the man's eccentric thoughts while she was ravaging his mind to find out how the base operated and took stock of its inventory. Still, for a muggle structure, it sufficed her basic needs. A few simple enchantments and wards had assured that no one would be getting in.

Emily deposited Harry on a rather luxurious bed in the bunker. It was larger than her other base, and as such she filled it with better comforts. "Ennervate."

She watched as the young man jolted upwards with a start, looking wildly left and right. Emily put herself on guard, ready for another outburst. She was in luck, however, as he calmed quickly.

"Emily? Where are we?"

"Another one of my bases, this one at the foot of Ilvermony. America's Hogwarts if you will."

"Why?"

"Do you really not remember?"

"Erm, no, not really. We were talking, no, we were arguing. About the jinx. Last thing I remember is freaking out on you about you trying to kill me." He didn't meet her eye throughout his recounting, but slowly he locked his gaze with hers. "I know you'd never do that. I don't, I don't know what came over me."

"Its fine, Harry. You had a panic attack, a side effect of the jinx. At least we know its working."

"Is that going to happen often? Because I really, really wasn't a fan of it."

"It could, if you don't let me calm you down when you get agitated. I've been by your side all day and night for the past two weeks for that very reason you know. To prevent this from being even more painful that it needs to be."

"I'm sorry. I just, I felt so smothered by you."

Emily sat next to him. "Harry, lets talk about your emotions. Are you happy right now?"

"Yes, of course. I have you here."

"Okay, lovely to know. But, what if," she paused, thinking. "What if I were not here?"

"Well, then I'd probably be miserable. And completely lost, I've not the foggiest idea where Ilvermony is."

Emily chuckled. "So then its probably safe to say that right now, I am the only thing truly making you happy. That's probably why the jinx isn't working right. With me constantly being here, you can't sink into depression. So the jinx is causing your brain to react through other means. Agitation, increased aggression, and panic attacks are what we've seen thus far."

He stared blankly at her. "So what does that all mean then?"

"I'm not too sure. But I definitely don't see the jinx working with the course its on right now. You see, the magic of the jinx, the intent of the jinx is to eventually cause the victim to commit suicide. I'm quite certain even the most prideful being would fall victim to the jinx with enough exposure. Clearly the magic thinks that this is the best way for you to commit the act. We just aren't certain how its going to work, or how long its going to take."

"Well, the magic is creating all these negative things towards you right? What if that's what its trying to do? Separate me from you so I can no longer be happy and then... well, you know."

"Hmm, perhaps. I think its too early to hedge our bets on that, but its certainly a viable possibility."

"So... where do we go from here? What's the next step?"

Emily pondered his question for a brief moment. "Continue as we are. Should this bear no fruit for us after a little bit longer, well, there is one final method we can try."

Harry groaned. "Wow, another one? Do I even want to know?"

"Sarcasm isn't becoming on you. Its a dark spell that just tears a soul apart. Instead of taking a small sliver of your soul, it takes a massive chunk. I've never known someone to be exposed to that spell and be the same afterwards. That is one among many reasons I chose not to perform that spell. I'm sure you know that my horcrux in you is tied to the scar on your forehead, yes? Well its also tied to your soul as well. Its anchored in both places, though in truth it should not be. Another byproduct of your accidental horcrux status. Should we use this last resort spell, I may end up removing our connection all together."

"Yeah, lets stay away from that one."

She hummed in agreement. She just needed to be patient, eventually everything would work out.

Two weeks later, almost an entire month in, Emily was starting to wonder if her hopes were ever going to be true. Harry was pretty much dead on with his assumption that the curse was trying to pull them apart. She had taken to placing tracking charms on him just in case he got lucky. She was at the end of her wits almost.

It was after their latest fight that Emily had begun to hatch a plan. She was going to let him 'get away'. She would disillusion herself and follow him. As it was, their current path wasn't making any headway, so she would mix things up. And, in truth, she was tired of not being able to touch him or feel him. The last week, his paranoia had reached an all time high, and he refused to touch her at all. Whats more, she couldn't touch her mind to his, lest his psychosis bleed into her. She couldn't even entice him completely nude, despite repeated attempts.

The altercation was easy enough to start. All she had to do was try and touch him. Normally, she wouldn't have done this, knowing that whatever psychosis his mind had him under would force him to freak out, but she was aiming for it this time. What followed was exactly as she had expected. Harry had frozen when he noticed her nearing him. His eyes followed her progress unblinkingly. It was when she reached her hand outwards that he finally acted.

"Piss off!" He grabbed a pillow from the bed of her base and flung it at her head. She didn't bother blocking it, letting it bounce off her and land on the ground. Harry made a beeline for the door, and she fired off a couple half-hearted spells, so he thought she was chasing him. She then disillusioned herself and took off after him. Outside of her base was a heavily wooded area, but despite the trees, she was able to follow him easily enough.

To his credit, the boy had stamina, he ran for several long minutes, almost a dead sprint. By the time he came to a wheezing halt, he had traveled just over two kilometers. She watched him look around himself over and over, before his knees buckled and he hit the dirt. Emily had just decided to hunker down and observe him when a sharp crack echoed through the air.

"Harry Potter, sir."

Emily already had her wand pointed at the creature before it had even opened its mouth. It was that damnable house elf, Dobby. While the creature had given her a small amount of help in the past, she still disliked it.

"Dobby? What... What are you doing here?

"Dobby has come to deliver important news from Professor Dumbledore, sir. Grave news it is. Dobby does not know what it is, but Dumbledore has told Dobby it is of great importance that you know."

Emily silently scoffed. If she, the boy's own beloved, couldn't break through Harry Potter's paranoia, then what hopes did a house elf have?

"HAH! Yeah, right. As if Dumbledore has ever looked out for me. That old man has is own agenda, and my survival isn't on it."

Practically word for word straight from her own mouth. Even if it was just the jinx speaking, she was happy to hear blantant distrust of Albus Dumbledore come from him. Dobby was not so easily swayed.

Perhaps it was the odd bond the two shared, but she watched as the house elf walked up to Harry's sitting figure and place a hand on the boys knee. "Dobby trusts that this is very important, Harry Potter, sir. He would not have been looking for you for so many days out here otherwise." A sharp crack and the house elf had vanished, the only evidence he had even been there at all was a worn envelope balanced precariously on Harry's bended knee.

Emily could almost taste the enchantments on the letter. It would have taken her hours to open the damn thing. The Hogwart's headmaster had made certain that the only person who would be reading that letter was Harry and Harry alone. She watched him read it quickly, stare at the sky and then reread it again. She knew how fast her lover could read, the letter could not have been more than a couple sentences.

"So... none of it even matters, does it?"

Emily's heart clenched at the tone of his voice. Something in that letter had made him give up. Something in that letter changed something in Harry irrevocably. Something that Emily, was going to find out sooner rather than later. She had just removed her disillusionment charm when she saw him wave his wand and light the parchment on fire. She quickly and wordlessly summoned the parchment to her, putting out the fire on its way.

However as soon as the parchment touched her fingers, bright red flames exploded from it, burning it to a cinder. One of the protective enchantments to be certain. Oh well, she could just ask her lover about it.

"Harry, what was that about?"

His eyes had been on her ever since she summoned the parchment. "Doesn't matter. Didn't you hear me earlier, none of it does." He chuckled softly. "We did great together, didn't we."

"Of course we did, baby. And we're going to keep doing great together. You and I, we'll never stop."

Harry looked at her, and all of Emily's apprehension washed away as his face split into a smile that she hadn't seen in weeks. Clearly her jinx had been broken. They'd have to figure out how to make his horcrux some other way. She refused to go through this shit again.

"You are so incredible Emily. I hope you find everything that you're looking for." And with that, Harry used a dark laceration curse to sever his neck from ear to ear.

Emily's stomach almost made her sick at the sight of his entire upper body becoming stained red in seconds. It rolled and the urge to vomit was overwhelming. But she couldn't allow that to happen, somehow things had worked and she needed to stick to the plan. He had commited the act and split his soul. She immediately activated the magic to bind the broken piece of his soul to her engagement ring. She had already performed all the necessary steps before hand, and the ring was now a ready and suitable vessel.

Now, even if she somehow failed to save him here, she could simply create a new body for him and bring him back. Still, she had no intention of screwing this up. Healing was normally her weakest spell work as the required feelings and emotions to remove dark magic from wounds was beyond her. This, however, was a unique circumstance, and the desire to heal within her was more than strong enough to stitch his neck back together. Only a thin line remained as evidence of what he had done, and even that would fade with time.

Tilting his head back, she pulled a vial from the inside of her robes. "Bottom's up, sweetheart." She poured the blood replenishment potion down his throat and was relieved to feel his heart beat get stronger quickly.

"Let's get you somewhere safe."

Harry rubbed his eyes gently. The Pacific Ocean was a beautiful sight. California, he decided, was a place he'd like to live in one day. The presence of the woman in a two piece black bikini, sun bathing behind him, helped immensely.

It had been just over a month since the horcrux debacle. Though, in the end, things worked out, it still seemed like a horrible dream. He had mostly recovered from the experience, though Emily no longer snuck up on him in surprise. If she were to do so, he'd locked up again in panic. He also allowed no one to touch the thin scar on his neck, the only exception to that was Emily's lips. Even the brush of her fingers would cause him to spasm violently.

Still, he was now as impervious to death as she was, possibly even more so. Emily wore his horcrux with her wherever she went. He had jokingly asked her if she had placed a permanent sticking charm on her finger and the ring. She had replied that no, that would have meant that the ring could still be removed with other means. She had then assured him that there was literally no force on earth that could remove the metal band from her finger, save her other hand. It was impossible.

Harry spent as much time as he possibly could with Emily. He didn't waste a moment. Even when she was teaching him, he spent more time focused on her than the words she spoke. In either case, he still absorbed all the knowledge she passed on to him. Emily had relentlessly pounded the theory of spells into his head, to the point where he felt capable of crafting his own. She did this so he would pick up on their practical use faster. She had been correct. It was rare that he needed more than a handful of minutes to successfully perform a spell from the Hogwarts curriculum, grade six or seven. However, there was a necessary trade off. Due to losing so much time, they had completely cut out potions from his knowledge. History as well. All of his knowledge was wand based, but, to be fair, he was more than ready to ace all of the practical NEWTs.

Tilting his head to bask in the sunlight, he shivered. Beautiful the view may have been, it was still the beginning of March, and as such, still rather cold. Emily, was completely unaffected by the temperature outside, her body remained at its core temperature no matter what. When he asked her what the point of her sunbathing was, she simply replied that she like it. Harry, still possessing a completely normal body, could only shiver. He made his way back to his fiance and laid down next to her on her towel. He refused to use a warming charm, not when he could simply complain to her and she would gladly drape her body over his.

The two were at a private beach, with the appropriate wards around them. Harry attempted to make a move on Emily, but she shut him down gently. Sand, she explained, was the worst environment to have sex on. While it wouldn't chafe her skin, it would his, and he would be far too miserable to finish what he started. And that, was something Emily refused to be a part of. She detested getting cock blocked. It was, she told him once, a major reason she hated his headmaster.

"Old man was always trying to get in between us. He even interrupted my attempts to masturbate once. Just decided to drop by on me to ask some questions and ruin my mood."

Harry understood her dislike for the headmaster, but he himself still held the man in high regard. Though Harry had at one point in time been at severe odds with him after the end of his fifth year, the rift between the two had mended greatly. The elderly man had allowed him to make his own choices, even if they were not ones Dumbledore agreed with. It didn't help that Harry now felt he owed the man a great deal after he received the letter from Dobby.

'Every moment I have with you is precious,' he thought as he embraced the woman laying on top of him. 'Because now I know just how few of these moments we have left.'


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: First flashback is ripped outta book one.

Chapter 15

 _'Harry, the horcrux inside of you is damaged and will die soon. Be careful and contact me once you get this message.'_

The message that Dumbledore had sent him was still fresh in his mind, even a month later. Harry and Emily were laying together, in a muggle vacation home. The luxurious house was apparently rented out to tenants during the proper season. Harry was unsure if Emily reserved it or just appropriated it, but he figured the latter was more likely. Still, in regards to the headmaster's message, he had debated responding almost every single day until now.

At first he had simply wanted to spend all of his time with Emily. He had been lost in a sort of shock and grief, that what the two of them shared, might be ending. Harry did not think for even a moment that Emily would just revert to hating him or anything like that. No, he was certain their relationship would survive, but he knew it would change.

He would lose his leverage over her if he lost the horcrux within himself. Something he honestly felt terrible about thinking. But it was a leverage he needed. Because without this leverage, nothing would hold Emily Riddle back from destroying the world. Sure, there was a chance that she might still bend to his desire to see certain things his way, but he would have no real power to make it so. A true relationship, after all could only be held by equal parties. At least in some way.

Emily was stronger than him, smarter than him, and far more beautiful, he thought. He absolutely brought nothing to the table other than his fame. No, Harry had no true worth to her. It was the incredible desire and attraction she felt for him, manifested through the horcrux in his head, that evened the scales. He now had something she physically needed. Or at least, desired very strongly. However, should that vanish, the scales would tip out of balance and they would drift of into unknown territory. A territory Harry didn't know if he could stand with her in. If she stopped trying to be a better person for him, would he even be able to stand next to her?

After spending over four weeks with her, doting on her as much as he could, he decided that he couldn't allow it to happen. After all, she had told him herself.

 _"What if something happens to either myself or your horcrux, and it gets destroyed? Do you think you will want to kill me again?"_

 _With this question, her enjoyment soured. They had gone from magical/soul theory and into thoughts she suppressed as hard as she was able to._

 _"That is something I would rather not discuss."_

 _That had, apparently, not been what he had wanted to hear from her. He turned his eyes from her with a scoff, before muttering, "Guess that's a yes. Great."_

 _Not willing to let him have such a foolish idea, she reopened the topic immediately. "No, it's not. Don't just assume my motives and decisions, Harry, it will annoy me. I don't want to discuss it because I hate the very thought of it. I love you, so very much. Right now that is a fact, an indisputable one. The one way I can see that love ever leaving me has to do with the destruction of either you or the horcrux inside of you. Once upon a time Harry, I felt nothing more than anger, hate and pleasure from committing horrible acts. Those actions and feelings fueled my darkest impulses, true, but they made me, and still continue to make me, into the powerful witch that I am today. More powerful than any other. And though it has taken me decades and an errant accident involving my own soul, I have finally found a fulfilling happiness. One that has altered the very core of who I am. The thought of something jeopardizing that is more than a little unpleasant. Suffice to say, no I will not kill you should that happen."_

 _She paused, the unease still rolling through her body. She had a nagging sensation that she should put a plan 'B' in place, but the idea was too vague. How could she have a back up if her feelings of love and adoration deserted her? Would she turn back into the power hungry witch she had been in the past? Not that she didn't still want the same things, but she had more balance. Her love for him balanced her out, rounded her desires and decisions, made her able to be more normal. Emily knew she was great, but she was also aware that she had never been normal. And though in the past, she had never had such a desire to be like everyone else, who she was now, the combination of her old self and this new love, she didn't want to be anyone else. She couldn't help but stare at his face as she pondered what 'fail safe' she could put up should the unthinkable happen._

 _"Harry." Calling his name had been useless as he had yet to stop looking at her. But she needed the extra few seconds of introspection the pause allowed her. "If such a thing does happen, I'm holding you personally responsible for it." His face took on an odd look at hearing that, and she would have to explain in greater detail._

 _"Should the worst case scenario come to pass, and we do lose our connection, it will be your job to fix it. If the horcrux within you is destroyed and I do lose my feelings for you, it will be your turn to make me fall in love with you."_

 _"Hah, really? Honestly, do you think that is even possible?"_

 _"Certainly, connection or no, I will always have the memories of us as we are now. I will always know of this happiness, and I think, deep down, I will crave it badly should it leave me. Therefore, if I do not approach you to repair what we were, I expect you to." She walked around her desk, turning the chair he sat in to face her with a lazy flick of her hand. A parlor trick, if anything, but useful. "I know you have yet to tell me that you are in love with me, but please Harry. I will suffer greatly without you in my life. You must come for me if I find the strength to stay away from you. Please, promise me."_

 _For a third time since they had been speaking his response shocked her, once again not with surprise, but with its intensity. "I'll come for you." He smirked at her as he spoke, "Whatever it takes, I'll come for you, and I will do what I need to to get you back._

She was going to hold him responsible either way, so he may as well do what he could. And the first thing that would take would be contacting his headmaster. Making certain that Emily was properly covered by the sheets, he said, "Dobby."

By simply saying the house elf's name, Dobby appeared before him. Emily, who was laying beside him, didn't speak, but lifted her head onto an arm to watch curiously. She hadn't stopped bugging him about Dumbledore's letter, and he had not answered her. It was something he couldn't tell her, she would panic.

"Dobby, can you please speak to the headmaster. I need to know what to do."

"Headmaster Dumbledore told Dobby to bring Harry Potter to him when Harry Potter was ready. Professor Dumbledore will teach you what you need to know."

Harry blinked in surprise. Apparently his headmaster already had a solution to his problem. While this did make him happy, he wasn't sure how Emily would react to his request to return to Britain. He turned to look at her and could already tell that she wasn't letting Dobby take him anywhere.

"No need for that, elf. I will escort Harry back home without your assistance."

Dobby nodded, ears flopping about. "Dobby hopes to see you soon. Was there anything else you wanted to say to Dobby?"

"No, thank you. I really appreciate your help, Dobby."

Harry watched as the small creatures eyes filled with tears, but with a surprising display of self restraint the elf did not break under the tide of emotion. Instead, he nodded to the couple sitting down and disappeared with a sharp crack. In his place, however, remained a silvery cloak.

"While I am aware that you trust Dumbledore, I still do not. The fact that he keeps delivering this cloak to you as a means of allowing you to sneak about it is questionable. Especially seeing as he knows I can make use of it as well. I will be accompanying you to Hogwarts. Even when you are learning, whatever it is you plan on learning from him, I will be close."

"I kind of figured you'd be more against this. As for the cloak, well, it _is_ mine. Maybe he just wants me to keep it close for safety."

"I _am_ against this. However, as I told you after Christmas, we go where you decide. Even if its back to Dumbledore's Order. I'll be the one making use of the cloak again, however."

Harry stared at her pensively. She was being just a bit too passive about this. She was plotting something.

"Be honest with me, Emily. What are you planning?"

She gave him a shrewd look, before sighing and raising her gaze to the ceiling. "I know that something he told you upset you. Upset you in a way that I can't fundamentally comprehend. _Something_ you refuse to clue me in on." She turned her face to look back at him. "I may not know what he said to you, but I know whatever it was, it was powerful enough to push you to end your life. Meaning, that whatever it is that you aren't telling me is terrible. Anything that may take you away from me is terrible. So if I have to play nice with Dumbledore to keep you with me, then I'll manage."

Harry couldn't help but laugh harshly. "You're kidding me, right? You, play nice with Dumbledore?"

"Well he and I certainly will not see each other. I simply mean I won't go out of my way to murder him."

"That's the Emily I know."

She murmured in agreement. He was sure there was something more, but he wouldn't press. Emily, like Dumbledore, would not give him more information unless it was vital to him. If he wanted to learn more, he'd have to snoop.

"So, are we taking a plane, then?"

"No. We'll be taking the TARS."

"Er, I'm not really familiar with that. What?"

"The TransAtlantic Rail System. Its magical, of course. Akin to the Hogwarts express, and the primary form of travel across the ocean for magicals."

"And we didn't use that to get to America, why?"

"Because, boarding a train in a country where I am a wanted criminal is unwise. Boarding the train here, however, is acceptable. Border patrol is more curious about whose leaving the country as opposed to who is entering in magical society."

"Uh huh. Aren't we in a bit of trouble here too? Didn't you say the magical law enforcement here is probably on the look out for our aliases?"

"Yes, but this is the States, Harry. And they're not quite as united as they'd have you believe. We'll squeak through as long as we leave from a different state. Regardless, the only thing I did was stun you. I doubt that's going to grant us a detain on sight order."

Harry could only nod, trusting that her judgment would be correct.

They used a series of portkeys and apparitions to make their way back to the east coast over the span of two hours. Once they arrived on the coast of South Carolina, Myrtle Beach, to be exact, Harry asked Emily when they'd be departing.

"Now." With a slight tilt of her head, she directed his attention to the ocean. Harry looked towards the vast expanse of water and was surprised to see a glittering train car floating on the edge of the shore.

"The TARS is a complex rail system that uses magic to strongly warp the spatial plane. The train cars exist every where at every time along the tracks. Just by approaching the car with the desire to board, and of course, having a wand, will cause the car to appear."

"That's hard to really understand, Emily."

"It is." She offered no more information in the way of an explanation. Harry had to conclude that either she didn't wish to discuss it or she just didn't have enough knowledge on how everything operated. He couldn't make a guess as to which.

Emily opened the car door to a very small compartment, in which a rather bored looking witch sat behind a glass partition situated to the left side of the wall. Past the partition, to the opposite of the entrance stood a normal looking train door that showed a very normal looking car.

"Thank you for choosing TARS. The standard fare, coast to coast is three galleons. If you wish to purchase a ticket further inland as opposed to a coastal stop please feel free to look at our various connections in the pamphlets below the window." Her voice was beyond monotonous. She was clearly bored out of her mind, and paying no attention. Emily quickly and efficiently bought them two tickets to the coast of Britain and they made their way to the car. Most of the compartments seemed comfortable, but rather full. Eventually they found an empty compartment near the back.

Harry sat down on the plush leather seat as Emily levitated his trunk to the baggage hold near the ceiling. Emily had all of her own belongings shrunk and on her person. She reasoned with Harry that most people would assume him still incapable of using magic without the trace, so he would have to carry his belongings like normal. Once they made it to the coast of Britain and got through the border security, Emily would adopt disguises for Harry. Her own charmed ring would do her little good as the guise of Amelia Hurst was that of a criminal. She'd simply use his invisibility cloak to evade everything. Some how, his cloak was impervious to any and all forms of detection. It could be seen through, with certain artifacts, but the cloak itself could not be detected through magical means. She had decided to look into the item at a later date.

As Emily sat down next to Harry, pulling her legs on the seat and curling them to the side, she leaned into him. It was about a three hour journey. If this were a normal situation, and she were secluded with him, she'd be working him out of his clothes. However, she couldn't muster up the desire to do so. Everything about this scenario screamed trap to her. She was uncomfortable.

She was certain that whatever magic Dumbledore was teaching him, she could easily do herself. Why was he not willing to turn to her in his time of need? Why go to Dumbledore? They were all questions she could not answer. He certainly had no intention of filling her in. She thought back over their interactions in the previous month.

" _Tell me, Emily. Do you want kids one day?"_

 _Emily looked at him, and answered shortly, but not entirely honest, "No."_

" _Why not?"_

" _I have no desire to procreate, nor do I have a need to leave behind a legacy when I die, because I won't die."_

" _I think there's more to it than a living legacy, Emily."_

" _Oh? And what, pray tell, do you think on the subject of making a family with me?"_

" _Well, I definitely want one with you. But if you don't then... I guess its not really that important."_

 _She allowed them to hang in silence for a few moments, before laying her trap._

" _If I were, lets say, willing to spawn an offspring for you. What would be in it for me?"_

" _Er, well, of course I'd help you take care of it."_

" _Don't be daft Harry, you'd be the father, of course you would. No, tell me what would be in it for me and me alone, to do this for you."_

 _Harry paused, clearly racking his brain for an idea. "I don't know, what do you want?"_

 _Emily inwardly smiled. "Come now, Harry, if I wanted something, don't you think I would get it once I decided I wanted it."_

" _Yeah, you're right." Just as she saw him mentally shelving the topic for a later date, she pounced._

" _Well, I do suppose there is one thing only you can do for me."_

" _What is it?"_

" _July 31st would be a lovely day to get married, don't you think."_

 _She watched as he groaned to himself. She had been pressing for a wedding at the earliest possible convenience, but he'd balked at her, repeating the same line he always had, 'I'm sixteen Emily.' Of course, she couldn't actually tie the knot with him until he was of age, thanks to an old pure blood law. A minor could only marry with the consent of their guardian. This was put in place so that no youths could foolishly taint the family line with a non magical marriage. It was very rare, fifty years or so ago, for any pure blood scion to graduate Hogwarts unwed._

 _Harry was a British citizen, and as such could not wed in another country, either, unless his partner was a citizen of that country. She had tried to abolish said citizenship in the States, but the few government dogs she spoke to told her that wasn't an option as he was a minor. There was no real question of whether or not her citizenship could change. There were far to many variables that made that impossible._

 _Of course, this all could have been avoided if the boy's godfather didn't loathe her existence, but she reckoned, she did kill one of his best friends, and made another betray him. She had made a single attempt to contact him and try to build some kind of bridge, but she had, as expected, failed horribly. Her messenger had been hexed horribly._

" _Fine, we can get married then. Any other requirements?"_

" _Just one, if its a daughter, I have a name already picked out."_

" _You know, for someone who literally just told me she didn't want kids, you seem to have thought about it a lot."_

" _Maybe, the thought has cross my mind, once or twice."_

" _Uh huh, so, what's the name?"_

" _I wanted a special name, one that would represent what we are, and how we came to be."_

" _We're not calling our kid 'Horcrux', I hope. Cause that's gonna lead to the word whore, a lot."_

" _Be serious. No, not going to call her anything like that, its an actual name. And the horcrux didn't bring us together, remember. We were brought together because of a prophecy."_

" _No. Nor happening. I'm not letting you name our daughter, Sybill. I refuse."_

" _Would you just shut up and let me finish explaining the elegant thought process I went through in picking out our future daughter's name. Now, seeing as it was prophecy and fate that tied us together, I decided to name our daughter after an ancient Greek oracle. More precisely, the Pythia, or as it is more commonly known, the oracle of Delphi."_

" _Okay, so Pythia or Delphi?"_

" _I didn't really like either of those names as they stood so after some thought I decided on Delphini. It still holds the root of the oracle and is also unique. We'll call her Delphi for short though."_

" _You know what, its better than Sybill. I'm sold."_

" _Thank you for you agreement, though I'd have not accepted anything less. Should we have a son, you may name him as you see fit. Though I'd not be opposed to naming him Apollo, who is the Greek God of prophecy."_

" _Oh, um, thanks. I'll, er, I'll keep that in mind."_

He had been doing that more often recently. Asking her questions and pressing her for details about their future. As if he had all these dreams he wanted to make into reality with her, but he wanted to make sure she was on board as well. It was silly, really, as though she could truly deny him anything he desired. While Emily honestly had no desire to have children, he did. And that was more than enough reason for her to want them as well.

Another memory from the past rose over her.

" _Emily?"_

" _Yes?"_

" _How would I go about bringing you back if your body dies?"_

" _Well, its honestly not too difficult of a process really. Some bone of a relative, blood of an enemy and flesh from a friend can fashion a body the most easily. The items don't even need to be fresh."_

" _Flesh of a friend? Wormtail said flesh from a servant if I remember correctly."_

" _Yes, well, I don't really have friends, now do I? No, a servant was the closest thing for me, so I had to use a substitute. As you can see, it was still a success."_

" _So, what, dump all that shite into a pot and you'll just pop out."_

" _You're not making me dinner, Harry, you're making me a body. You'll use a cauldron, with natural spring water, brought to a boil with a fire created with the wood from either an Elm, Elder or Yew tree. Once the water has started to froth you can add the ingredients, but be careful, should the water stop boiling before all ingredients are in you will have to start over."_

" _Why use water as the ether?"_

" _Because the human body, on average, is made up of fifty-five percent water. After that, the incantation takes over. As with all potions, a wand is needed to infuse magic into the brew. The incantation is rather... free verse, if you will. But it conveys intent, which is a fundamental of magic, so choose your words wisely."_

" _So, wave my wand and spout out some bullshit, right?"_

" _That will work, sure."_

He had made sure to get the entire process out of her, in case it was needed in the future. While she was happy that he now knew, should the worst case scenario occur, she wasn't all too pleased with him being the most likely person to have to bring her back. She didn't want to have to replace on of his limbs.

She nestled herself further into Harry's side as he draped an arm around her. Yes, he had been full of questions as of late.

" _Something has been bugging me for a while, Emily. Do you have a minute to talk?"_

 _Emily had been writing up a correspondence to her followers back in Britain, but was more than willing to put the task off for a bit to speak with her fiance._

" _For you, I have all the minutes in the world. What's bothering you?"_

" _Remember when we had that huge talk after you restored my memories? You said the only good decision you had made recently was trusting Hermione. What was that about?"_

" _Well, that was your best friend doing what any best friend should do. She was looking out for us."_

" _Okay... Go on."_

" _Haha, well she contacted me through Draco about reuniting us. She claimed she could make it happen."_

" _Wait, she contacted you, not the other way around?"_

" _Yes, she reached out to me first. Of course, I was already deeply involved in a plan to remove you from Hogwarts with some help from a magical artifact in the school, but when she came to me with her own plan, I prioritized hers. Having a woman on the inside proved useful to me. She felt terrible about manipulating that ginger whore's feelings to goad you into said plan, but she knew what you wanted, despite what you were saying at the time."_

" _So Hermione, masterminded everything? Is that what you're saying? I never had feeling for Ginny, or I wasn't going through depression, all of that was just a bunch of tripe she came up with?"_

" _No, unfortunately all of those things were real. You went through all of that. She simply spun the situation you were in, towards a certain light, so that you would come to me. And you did. Your friend surprised me with her cunning. She was as sly as any Slytherin has ever been."_

" _Wow, I mean, I always knew Hermione was brilliant, I'm just kind of shocked that I was lead along by the nose so easily."_

" _Yes, well, I'm sure there were some well placed confundus charms through out everything. Still, if that surprises you, would you believe me if I told you your best friend hit me with the Killing curse."_

" _Get out! Ron hit you with the Killing curse? What the hell did you do to make him do that?"_

" _I pretty much told him to fuck off right after I had you in my possession again. Are you ready for this story, though, because its rather incredible." At his nod, she continued. "So its right after I tell him to piss off, and he just up and bails on you, right? Totally floored me, when he bolted out of the room. Not the actions of the young man I knew when I taught him in Hogwarts. Then he sticks his wand in the room and blinds me with a flare spell. After that he starts trying to tag me with a curse, but of course even blinded I can still sense the magic. So what does he do? Instead of casting magic AT me, he summons a bookcase behind me to him so it bowls me over. Then he grabs you and hauls your ass to the nearest window where he spends two minutes trying to blast a hole in the wall. Thank goodness that the Malfoy Manor is built to resist that."_

" _So what happened next?"_

" _I'm afraid the story starts to taper off here. I catch up to him, tell him he's pissing me off and then he just fires the killing curse my way. Of course I can tell its not a proper cast and just take the hit. Wanted him to really feel beaten after he had humiliated me. I send him packing with an Imperius curse and get you back to a bed to rest."_

" _Bloody hell, I just can't believe Ron would do that."_

" _I may not be an expert in friends Harry, but I'd wager its rather common for best friends to be willing to die for one another. But fewer would be willing to kill for each other. Don't doubt your bonds with him, he's willing to do anything to keep you safe."_

Harry had been surprised by that story most of all. They continued to talk about almost everything, but the only thing the two of them hadn't talked about with one another was anything to do with Ginny Weasley, though not for Harry's lack of trying.

" _So Emily, what kind of 'girl talk' did you and Ginny get into?"_

" _I haven't the foggiest idea what you're on about, Harry."_

" _Don't even try feeding me that. When she came to see you about this plan, she was gone for way too long, what was going on between you two then."_

" _Okay, you got me, we did have some girl talk."_

" _About?"_

" _Well, I can't tell you silly boy. Its girl talk, something you don't qualify to hear."_

" _Ugh!"_

Emily giggled quietly to herself. She did love to frustrate him. He eventually decided to lay the line of questioning to rest after Emily told him that they had come to terms with each other's existence. Ginny had returned to Hogwarts in one piece in the end.

The hours passed by quickly due to her musings and dozing off next to Harry. She had ensured their privacy with some wards. He rested well, if rather fitfully at the beginning of the journey. About half an hour in she had cast a cushioning charm on the wall of the compartment where his head lay, and he slept more peacefully.

Rather suddenly, the sound of bells rang loudly in their compartment and the solid wood of the train's outer wall transfigured itself into a door. Harry was jerked awake, almost toppling her to the floor in the process. She managed to stay on the seat, with her fingers gouged into the cushions. Shaking the white stuffing off of her fingers, she wrapped her arm around his before leaving the train with him, his trunk floating along behind them.

Sure enough, they were on the sandy shore of Britain. Emily could tell by the dreary skies. "Not quite like the beaches we've come from, but there's just something about coming home."

Harry squeezed her arm to his side, "Guess we should hurry up and get this over with."

"Yes, so we can get back to work. Keep in mind Harry, should anything seem... sinister while you're with Dumbledore, all you need to do is concentrate very hard on me. I'll be close enough to sense it, even if our connection starts to falter."

"Where will you be?"

"No need to worry about the minor details, love. Just know that should you need me to blast that bastard out of a window all you need to do is think of me. Seriously, I'm really hoping for the chance to do so."

"I'm sure you are. Hopefully this won't take more than an hour. After that, I can fix everything."

Emily paused at his statement. "And what, pray tell, do you think you need to fix, Harry? What is wrong? Tell me. I can fix it, I promise you. I can fix anything you need me to. We don't need to resort to Dumbledore. He can't even perform a fraction of the magic I can." Why can't you trust me, she thought to herself.

Harry listened to her plea and his heart ached. He knew that she thought this was an issue of trust. To be honest, she was correct. Harry could not trust her with this issue. It was far to important. The one thing she valued most in this world was her horcrux inside of him. Sure, there was every chance of her being rational and working with him to find a solution. But it was far more likely for her to completely panic. She would seethe and tell him Dumbledore was lying. That his headmaster had orchestrated this when Harry was at Hogwarts to bring the both of them to him for extermination. She would start raving about all sorts of conspiracy theories. In the end, he couldn't trust her to not go off the deep end.

Of course, there was a nagging doubt in the back of his mind that Emily, may be right. This was quite possibly a trap. Just because he trusted his headmaster, didn't mean the man wasn't capable of breaking that trust for the 'Greater Good'. But if he had to trust Emily's temperament or Dumbledore's person, he'd pick Dumbeldore every day. Emily's temperament was never on an even keel on the best day, thanks to her thinly veiled insanity.

Looking into her eyes, seeing the silent plea he felt his heart ache. It was rare that she ever felt any type of insecurity, and whenever the times did come, he made certain to soothe her. Emily didn't handle insecurity well, she tended to lash out in anger. She had yelled at him multiple times in the past.

"Emily. I love you. I know this is a lot for you, following me here, with pretty much no idea what's going on. It really shows me you were being honest that you're not trying to manipulate me anymore. And I want to tell you, but... there's just too much at stake. Once I take care of it, I'll tell you everything. Then we'll get married and focus on our paths from there."

"I fail to see any situation where high stakes are involved and you somehow are aware of them and I am not. However, I trust you. " She loosened their entwined arms to turn her body and kiss his cheek, dragging her lips along his skin to his neck. Giving him a small, but visibly noticeable love bite, she pulled away. "You're going to do what you need to, for us. Just know that I am always by your side. To support, to hold, to simply be next to you."

The words were something he honestly felt he should be saying to her. Had he not thought something similar many times? Was it not she, who normally acted for the two of their best interests, with him being the one who stayed at her side? Maybe this was what love was really supposed to be. Maybe, they had finally progressed to a point where their twisted romance had finally become normal. Of course not, he thought, nothing involving Emily would ever be normal.

"Let's go."


	16. Chapter 16

A/N:Big reveal time, I guess.

Chapter 16

Emily parted ways with Harry a few hundred meters away from the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Still dangerous to be certain. Her fiance didn't bother questioning where she was going to be, just knowing she would be close by. She donned on his invisibility cloak, and made her way towards the castle grounds at a slow pace. She wanted to keep him in sight until he was safely inside the headmaster's office.

She would remain below, near the stair case. She'd be able to get into the room fairly easily. The head master's rooms of Hogwarts, while well protected, were not impervious to foreign entry. A necessary design considering the trouble some students could cause. The worst problem would be the stone gargoyles. But they were a paltry concern in comparison to her ability.

She watched as he made his way to the gates, but saw a stray acromantula near him in a tall oak. She kept her eye on the arachnid, certain that it had somehow ventured this far out in search of food. The beast made no movements and for a moment, she thought Harry would be fine. Then the spider sprung from its position in one of the trees, its flight taking it on a direct path towards Harry. Emily hit it with a levitation charm before it made it halfway to him. She then silenced the creature and began using her favorite curse on it, watching it twitch grotesquely under the pain.

She allowed herself to get carried away before remembering she was in the middle of something, killing the spider and resuming her course. She arrived just as Harry was finishing a rather cordial conversation with three centaurs. Or rather, a cordial conversation with one centaur, the other two having been stunned. Things probably didn't start out so pleasant. She watched him nod politely to the centaur, saying his goodbye. Firenze was its name.

Annoyed that she missed what only had to be an interesting conversation, especially since centaurs were quite prophetic creatures. She had attempted speaking with them various times throughout her life, but they had rebuked her each and every try. Wicked, they had called her. She would show them one day.

Now in a less than pleased mood, she kept following Harry, before once again stopping, this time at the sound of a roar. Harry too froze, and began looking around, though she doubted he knew what the noise was. No, this was a giant. Somehow there was a giant in the forest. The thought was inconceivable. She began wondering just how long giants had been back, considering how they had been run off. She would have to investigate later.

They both began their trek again, was Harry had calmed down. Entering the gates didn't prove to be difficult for Harry, he was now capable of producing a Patronus that could convey a message. A feat she couldn't take credit for, as she had only ever produced a Patronus one time. It was a spell that should have been impossible for her, one that would turn on her blackened soul and devour her body. However, something had defied the norm when she used it to save Harry in the Department of Mysteries. Both she and Harry believed it to have been the power of love that allowed her to use such a forbidden spell.

Soon after sending off his stag, the groundskeeper appeared. Oh, poor Hagrid. The foolish oaf was an idiot, plain and simple. She had allowed him to take the fall for her first murder, and he hadn't been the first. Last she heard, the man was still considered guilty of the crime, though negligent homocide happened often in the wizarding world. He shouldn't have been able to retain a job, much less work at such a prestigious institution such as Hogwarts, but being the lackey of Albus Dumbledore came with some perks.

Emily, strayed a bit farther from the two of them. Even though Hagrid was a half-giant, his hearing was still far above that of a normal wizard. She didn't want him noticing her. However, due to this she also missed out on parts of their conversation. Only small bits came through, 'Firenze', 'your brother', 'What were you thinking?'. Before the two had passed his hut, her lover sent off a second Patronus, that galloped off to the castle. This annoyed her, now Dumbledore would know they were coming. Did Harry not know how to be inconspicuous. Hagrid dropped off her lover at the door, but not before bending down to grasp the smaller man in a massive hug.

She was closer now, able to listen in. "Don't go listenin' to every one else, Harry. If you're happy with You-know-who, then good for you. Though I can't say I'm pleased to hear it, you need to look out for yourself. Who knows, maybe all she needed was a good man to keep her in line. See you later, Harry."

Emily was somewhat touched by the tacit approval given by the half-giant. Especially since the man had to know it was her actions that landed him in Azkaban. She figured it had to be a product of his simple mind. He couldn't comprehend everything, clearly.

Once Harry was inside the castle, it was only a short walk to the headmaster's office. Emily could feel the disillusionment charm before they turned the corridor. She wondered if Harry had spotted it. When she was suddenly hit by his feelings flooding through their connection, she knew he had. She watched as he gave off a rather believable fake sneeze in the direction of the hidden person. Shaking his head, as though to clear it, he went to the gargoyle and said, 'Acid Pops'.

The stone creature moved out of the way and Harry went upstairs. Emily remained at the edge of the corridor debating whether or not she should inch closer. For all she knew, this was just some elaborate prank one student was planning on playing on another. Though it was class time, higher years had more free time to themselves and as such wandered about.

Her reasoning was put to rest when the charm dissolved and the rugged appearance of Alastor Moody made its appearance. Her surprise was obvious, as last she heard he was in the long term ward at St. Mungos. Nothing they had been able to do could help him.

"I know you're there, Voldemort. Let's have a chat."

Of course his eye could see her. While it couldn't see the actual cloak, it could see her body. What a pain.

"Well, hello Alastor. I feel the need to tell you that you won't be surviving this conversation unscathed. Either Dumbledore's throwing you under the bus, or you were the one who charmed Harry's memory. You'll be paying for that.

"Sure I will, but first, lets get to the important matters."

"Oh? What could possibly more important to you than me ending your wretched life?"

"Information."

Emily paused. There was, after all, a lot of things she wasn't aware of right now. Maybe he would live another day.

"You have my attention."

"Dumbledore's dying."

The sentence didn't make its way through her brain for a few moments. When it did, she was skeptical.

"I see, and he decided to tell me... why?"

"Because, he knows he can't fight another war. What's more, he doesn't even want to. Being a pansy as far as I'm concerned, though I reckon if I was sixty-five years older, maybe I'd want some rest too."

"So what? Is this his idea of a white flag?"

"Hah, you're off your rocker. This is more or less a hostage negotiation."

Emily leveled her wand at his grisled face. "Don't try and keep him from me again. I will demolish this castle if I must."

"Oh, no. You misunderstand. We're not holding him hostage, we are holding you hostage."

Emily looked at him incredulously. Moody thought he could hold her hostage, all by himself. The thought was laughable. While she did take the man's skills seriously, he wasn't a real threat to her.

With a flourish, she pulled the cloak from her body and fired off a stunner. If the man had back up, she'd need to end this quick. Harry wouldn't be pleased if she started killing people, so she'd put him out of commission quick.

"Calm down, wench." Moody blocked the stunner with a flick of his wand. "Both you and Harry are free to go after this. No one's going to stop you. We'll let your _precious boyfriend_ explain things to you when he's done."

"Fiance, now. We'll be wed shortly. If you call me a wench one more time however, I'll marry you to a coffin."

"Whatever. Back to the information bit."

"Oh, you have more for me, hmm?"

"Yes, but you only get it if you pay the price."

Emily was annoyed, they wanted to trade information. Something she didn't like to do, as she prefered keeping her secrets close.

"What do you want to know?"

"How exactly are you protecting Harry, while he's in your care?"

Not what she had expected, but considering that Dumbledore was almost obsessed with Harry's well being, she shouldn't be surprised.

"He has me, what more protections does he need."

"Heh, Dumbledore quoted you word for word there. He also said it was a load of shite, he said you'd have more."

"Well I was going to brew a batch of Nullus Mortum. But things got a bit hectic in Egypt and I was unable to procure the ingredients."

"Yeah, we gathered that much. So stop side stepping the question. The faster you answer, the sooner I share mine."

"Tell Dumbledore that Harry Potter has the same protection that I myself have. It will be more than an adequate answer. Your turn."

"So, I'm supposed to accept that answer? Well the old goat did say if I heard something obscure to take it, so whatever. Don't bother communicating with the giants, we've already sent an emissary and recruited them."

"Hah, you call that information? I don't even plan on engaging your silly Order in open warfare again, so pick a different fact."

"We know about your arrangement with Ginny Weasley and Hermione Granger."

This could be trouble. "What, exactly, do you know of my arrangements with them?"

"Nothing with Granger really, other than getting him out of Hogwarts. But we know you and Mrs. Weasley have some sort of agreement in regards to _precious Potter's_ safety."

This time he wasn't fast enough to block her curse, likewise she decided on something more entertaining. She had had enough of him besmirching Harry. For the second time tonight she made use of the cruciatus curse. To Moody's credit, he did not scream, only giving out a choked gargle of pain. She didn't hold the curse on him for more than a minute, which was more than long enough for most people, but Moody was an old hat at this. He could take it, and she needed him to be at a point where he could no longer resist.

"That should do it. Insult my fiance again, Alastor, and I can assure you, you will not live to tell anyone about it. Now, moving on, apparently you seem somewhat reticent about what you wish to tell me. So, instead of trading information, you're going to give me all that I want to know. _Imperio_."

* * *

When Harry entered the headmaster's office and saw Albus Dumbledore seated at his desk, he felt at ease. Finally, things could start getting taken care of.

"Welcome home, Harry."

"Thanks Professor. Its good to be back. The States are nice, but its not the same as home, you know?"

"Indeed. I've been stateside several times. I find the trips enjoyable, but somewhat lacking."

There was an awkward pause, before Harry decided to jump into things. "So how are we going to fix the horcrux issue, Professor?"

"Ah, thats rather simple. We won't." Harry's expression turned hard, but before he could voice his displeasure the headmaster continued. "No, I will be teaching you the process to make a horcrux, and you will replace it once it expires."

Harry was shocked, mostly by the fact that his headmaster was even aware of how to create a horcrux. It seemed his headmaster saw where his train of thought was headed and pre-emptively cut him off.

"No, Harry. I have not, nor will I ever create a horcrux. I would never be able to, as I seem to be incapable of maintaining its existence. You see Harry the only way to restore one's soul-"

"Remorse. I know."

"Precisely. I am plagued by guilt over my many failures over the years, and remorse is only the natural course for those plagued by guilt."

"Wish Emily had that issue some days." Though he muttered this, Albus heard him.

"Yes, we all do. No, rather, I am aware of the magic due to my research into Emily Riddle herself. I can teach you the spell to pull another shard of her tattered soul into you. As your body has hosted a fragment of her soul already, it is already attuned to her, so the necessary groundwork is already lain down."

"So, this will be a pretty quick trip?"

"Somewhat, though I will wish to be very certain you can perform the spell adequately. No worries, however, I have made certain Ms. Riddle shall be... entertained during your absence."

Harry immediately reached into his robes for his wand. That was an ominous phrase, no matter how light Dumbledore's tone may have been.

"No offense, Professor, but things like that don't sound very reassuring."

"Perish the thought of any trickery, Harry. I simply have someone downstairs willing to exchange information between parties. Information she will most likely desire." At this he noticed his professor's blackened hand as the old man raised it above his desk.

"Professor, your... hand, what-"

"We should save that for our own information exchange that we'll be having later. No worries, Harry. It is a rather unfortunate curse, but its already been taken care of."

At this Dumbledore began explaining the intricacies of pulling a peice of human soul out of the body. He explained the difficulties Harry may run across, but likely wouldn't as Emily's tattered soul should be littered with fragments that he could make use of.

Once he had been certain that Harry had a firm grasp of the spell's theory he began walking Harry through the wand movements repeatedly. It was during this time that the conversation resumed.

"Well, Harry. I would like to inquire as to some personal information. Information that I'm fairly certain you will not share, but would be remiss to not make an attempt."

Harry's thoughts immediately turned to his sex life, specifically, protection and wanted to close his ears. He had no idea why he had thought that first, but what came next was even more unwelcome.

"What are Emily's other horcruxes and where are they located?"

In complete honesty, the headmaster had been spot on. Harry would not answer that question, but he also understood why Dumbledore had asked.

"I'm sorry, Professor. I can't tell you that."

"But, and forgive me for prying, you do know, do you not?"

"Er, well, I do, but don't bother trying legilimency. Emily made certain I was well trained in Occlumency, so it won't help you."

"I'm sure she has. Well then, perhaps you can listen to what I have to say and tell me how precisely correct I am then. The locket, the cup, the diadem and the ring."

Harry's blood ran cold upon hearing his headmaster oh so casually list off the anchors to his fiance's soul. His headmaster went even further.

"An underground cave that she took two small children to as a child, the Lestrange vault in Gringotts, the Room of Requirement, and her ancestral family's home."

Harry had long since stopped practicing his wand movements. He fixed Dumbledore with a stare. "How?"

"Myself and the Order have not been idle, Harry. We are still more than well aware of what Emily is capable of. As such, we have not stopped finding ways to combat her when the time comes. These are the four Horcruxes I have located so far. I believe she would make six in total, with the seventh part of her soul residing in her body. The diary was already destroyed. You, were an unintentional horcrux and should you remain one in the future, you will not affect the overall total. I am certain that there is one more."

Harry conjured an hardwood chair and seated himself in it, refusing to break his gaze from Dumbledore's. While Emily had taught him conjuration, he was not at the level to start making extravagant furniture. Then again, few people had any decent skill in the art, so he was already rather proficient.

He started speaking as soon as he sat down. "To my knowledge there is no other horcrux. When she and I discussed her horcruxes the four you listed were the only ones she told me about. I am one hundred percent certain she did not lie to me."

"Do you believe she has made another since you two have been together?"

"Its always possible, but I strongly doubt it. I've been with her rather consistently, and I haven't seen her kill anyone. I suppose she could have done in during the incident in Egypt, but I'd like to think her priorities were somewhere else. So that just leaves the gap when I was not with her thanks to Mad Eye's memory charm. It was a pretty large chunk of time, so its more than possible that she made another, but I still doubt it."

"I see. You seem quite sure about these doubts of yours. May I ask what leads you to that thought?"

"Emily places her soul fragments into things she finds priceless. The founders heirlooms and her own personal diary. Just goes to show that the last piece of her soul will go into something just as important."

"Yes, a conclusion I have also reached. But you think she has yet to find that item?"

"No, I think she has yet to recieve it."

"I'm afraid I don't follow, please explain."

"We're getting married on my birthday."

He watched Albus's eyes widen in understanding. "Her wedding band, of course. With the intensity of her feelings for you, its less a hypothesis and more a concrete eventuality. She values you more than anything else."

"That's my thought process, anyway. Now, what do I need to do to get those horcruxes from you?"

He watched the easy smile fade from his professor's face and knew he wasn't going to like what he heard next. "I am afraid there is nothing that anyone can do that would make me willing to part with them."

"Is that so? Or have you already destroyed them?"

"Oh no, I can assure you that each and every item is undamaged. Rather, one of them damaged me, and quite severely at that." Albus raised his hand at the statement.

Harry couldn't find himself to feel sorry for the man, after all, he had been collecting his lover's horcruxes, for unknown reasons, but probably nothing good for the two of them. Also, it seemed as though the injury was fine and recovering, so Harry didn't put much thought into it.

"So, why bring it up? Just wanted to make sure you had them all."

"I wanted to make certain we had the proper leverage."

"Leverage for what? Murder?"

Albus Dumbledore sighed. "No Harry, not in the slightest. The truth is, Harry... I will not be alive much longer." He once again gestured to his hand. "At best, I will have a year. But likely not even that much."

"I thought you said that curse had already been taken care of."

"It has, though not soon enough to save my life. I'm old Harry, and my time is approaching fast. I believe I once told you 'to the well trained mind, death is but the next great adventure.' Please believe me when I say I am more than ready to embark on it."

"I still don't understand your entire plan, Professor Dumbledore. What does this all have to do with one another?"

Dumbledore made his way to his seat behind his desk. Harry was no longer within a hair trigger of attacking the man. He craved understanding, he needed it. It was time for Dumbledore to come clean with everything.

"Let me explain, please. I have long since believed that the power the dark lord knows not was love. That you would vanquish her with this power. I believed that one day, Harry you would have shown the greatest love of all. Greater love have no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. Only by doing this could Emily succeed in killing you, otherwise the blood protections would have kept you alive. But by laying down that protection, by sacrifice, you would extend that protection to those whom you wished to protect."

"So, I was meant to die?"

"Ah, but that is the beauty of it, Harry. You would not have died, only the horcrux in you would perish. You would have been able to fight on, though you would no longer have had your mother's protection. Rather the ones you loved would have held it. You would have been truly vulnerable, and if I had my way, by the time that came about, I would have helped you destroy every single horcrux that existed, making Emily just as vulnerable."

"What if she decided to blow my head off, though? I highly doubt that would just regrow out of my neck, professor. This entire thing, was I ever meant to survive this crazy idea of yours?"

Harry watched as his professor lowered his head in shame. "I promise you, Harry. I have done all that I could to keep Emily powerless. I attempted many times to destroy her body since she has returned. Especially seeing as she hadn't notified many of her followers, if any at all. You were never meant to fight Emily Riddle, Harry. You were meant to grow up happy with your family, attend Hogwarts safely, meet the love of your life and have a blissful existence. But I failed in allowing you that. I sent you to a family that could never truly love you. I failed to keep Emily out of my school time and time again. Though you have thankfully met the love of your life and will hopefully have a blissful existence from here on, none of that can be attributed to my actions."

"So come up with the obscure plan to destroy the horcrux inside of me? Especially one where I will, more than likely, not walk away from."

"Because, Harry, in the end, Emily would have chased you down to hell itself. Nothing I could have done would have stopped her."

Harry sat pensively, mulling over everything Dumbledore had told him. According to the headmaster, Emily was never supposed to even rise again. To Dumbledore's credit, the man had done well in that regard. He had made certain that anyone who would help her was locked away. He knew the man attended every single death eater trial in the past, he had witnessed Crouch Junior's himself. After all, she had been gone for years and the only follower who came to her rescue was Peter Pettigrew. The pathetic man only did that because he had no where else to go.

"Why all the secrets? Why beat around the bush like this? Why couldn't you just be up front with me from the beginning?"

Albus raised his head slowly to meet Harry's eyes. "Because I cared too much to put such a burden on your shoulders. How could I break the news to a child that he held a horcrux inside of him? How could I tell you that the only way to stop your parent's murderer for good, was through your own death? Even if I had been able to, when would the right time be? When you were thirteen? Fifteen? Seventeen and fully of age? When is the right time to tell someone something that will irrevocably change their world?"

Once, a heavy silence filled the room before Harry spoke slowly. "We keep getting off track. So you're plan is to destroy her horcruxes, leaving her with only the one I know about. Then, should stray too far, down a path that she went in the past, you expect me to destroy the final horcrux and then die. All so she can finally be able to be killed?"

"You seem so certain that I am plotting for Emily's eventual demise, Harry."

"Then tell me what exactly this leverage you have is for."

"Simple. Right now, only you can exert control over Emily Riddle. I can no longer stand against her, Harry. My time is up. There are only two, forgive my choice of words, powerhouses in Britain now, Emily Riddle and Harry Potter. Such a delicate balance of power is, dangerous. Should you perish no one could stop her."

"No need to worry about my dying, professor. I've a horcrux of my own."

Harry watched the color drain from the man's face, and decided that the old man's heart may not be able to handle so much shock. "Relax Professor. It wasn't created through murder or anything awful like that, though the experience was not pleasant. Actually it was miserable and I'd rather not have to put myself through it again."

"I suppose I'll have to trust that Emily has found other ways to get the job done. It would not surprise me in all honesty. She is rather brilliant."

"She's incredible. But yeah, I won't be dying anytime soon."

"Should your body die, Harry, so will the horcrux. I suppose it is good that you have come to learn how to restore it.

"Yes, its rather fortunate."

"Now, back to what I was saying. I have decided to create a third party as it were. Or at the very least, elevate the Order to that position. Should Emily resume a tyrannical path, the Order will destroy her horcruxes. From there it will only be yourself and the ring. Then, as the muggles say, the ball will be in your court."

"What? You expect me to make the decision? To kill Emily? Professor, I couldn't do that."

"You could. You're the only who would have the power. The only one she would allow herself to be vulnerable to."

"You misunderstand me, sir. I can't I physically can't. I'm sure I would try, if she honestly did stray down that path, but she's never going to let it happen. She's too powerful. I mean, yeah, she has been teaching me, but I'm still just a normal boy. I can't go up against a dark lord like her."

"Right now, as you are, you are correct. You can not. However, before you leave my office today, you will be able to."

"I hope you're about tell me about the most powerful spell ever created, because that's the only way this is gonna work."

Dumbledore, with a painstaking grunt, rose from his chair. "I have only planned on sharing a single spell with you today, Harry. No, for the rest of our time here, we shall speak with our wands."

"Hold on, what?"

" _Petrificous Totalus._ "

If it weren't for Emily enjoying sporadically jinxing him, he may not have been able to dodge the spell. Still, it was obvious his teacher had no intentions of killing him, opening like he had with a body bind, so he didn't call for Emily. There had to be a point behind what his Professor was doing.

So the two of them dueled. The level of magic slowly increased and soon Harry was pulling out all the stops. He began using arcane magics, each and every trick Emily had taught him. Albus was fighting back as hard as he was able, but Harry couldn't help but notice how slow the man seemed. Was this really the only person his fiance ever feared? How could she, when Harry was able to duck and weave around every curse the man shot.

Finally Harry managed to punch his way through the man's defenses and wrap him up in writhing purple chains. A favorite spell of Emily's. A simple disarming charm and the duel was officially over.

"Well done, Harry. You've bested me quite well." Harry immediately released the man and his professor stumbled trying to right himself, before keeling over. Harry was fast enough to grab the elderly man by the shoulders and lead him to his chair. Once he had the man seated, he tried to return the wand to the professor.

"Thank you, Harry. But I'm afraid that wand is no longer my own. You have won its allegiance."

What followed was a brief lecture on wand lore and wand allegiance. Harry was shocked at the depth of information he never really knew that wands had.

"So... your wand is now mine, yes?"

"No, my wand is right here." Dumbledore, sure enough, pulled a wand from inside his robes. "The wand whose allegiance you won, however, is a powerful magical artifact called the elder wand. It is a powerful tool that legend states Death itself created. One of three items, to be precise. The other two were a cloak of invisibility and a stone that could bring back the dead. Legend says that holding all three of these items makes one the Master of Death."

"An invisibility cloak... surely you can't mine, can you?" Dumbledore only smiled and nodded faintly.

"That very one. Hence why I have always prioritized making certain it has stayed with you at all times. Even if I had to break quite a few rules and call in many favors to get it out of Egypt."

"You wouldn't happen to have the stone on hand, would you?"

Harry watch as the tired face split into a smile, "As a matter of fact, yes, I do."

Harry was flummoxed by this. It was something he hadn't expected. From another fold in his robes, Albus produced a black stone with a unique engraving on it.

"How does it work, Professor?"

"Harry, we've had this conversation before. It does you no good to dwell on the past. Let the dead remain at rest, only call on them when you truly need them.

Harry felt sheepish. He did remember that conversation. It was the first one he had with the headmaster at the mirror of Erised. "You're right. I do know better. Sorry."

"Do not fret, Harry. I too have lapses in sense. Such is the explanation for this hand of mine. I believe that with all three artifacts you will be able to best Emily should the need arise."

"But sir, can the wand really be mine? You were holding back so much there, can it even count?"

Dumbledore chuckled. "Harry, you clearly don't see how much you have grown, do you? You are a powerful young man. You bested me when I was giving it my all. True, I am not at my best, but I am better now than I ever will be in the future."

It was then that everything finally hit home for Harry. Dumbledore truly was dying. Harry had bested him because the man just didn't have it in him anymore. He could no longer expect the man to save him when things got too rough. Dumbledore's last few months were spent preparing everything he could to give Harry the best chance of a happy future. The emotions welled up in him so suddenly that he had to get out of the room.

"Don't worry sir. I'll keep Emily in check." And without even a verbal farewell, Harry Potter gripped the Elder Wand and Resurrection Stone tightly, and ended his final visit with the great Albus Dumbledore.

* * *

"You think it wise, to trust him with so much, Albus?"

"I do, Severus. Harry is the best hope we have. Have you made the preparations you needed to?"

"Yes, after today, Severus Snape will be no more."

"I will be said to see him go. You have been a great ally to me over these many years. A great ally to all of us. A great ally to Harry. I am sorry things are ending as they are."

The hidden figure in the corner of the office revealed itself. "I have been the slave of two harsh task masters, but I asked for the position, so I've no right to complain. My only regret is not being able to strangle that woman with my bare hands."

"Yes, well, she has changed. Surely you can see that."

"Changing is not enough to soothe the bitter hatred I've carried for over a decade, Albus. Regardless things have come to a close here. I have the Horcruxes and will be taking them with me as we discussed."

"Excellent, I have ensured you will have a constant line of communication available to you, no matter where you go. Whenever the need to enact the final plan arises. Should the need ever arise."

"You almost sound as though it won't."

"I would like nothing more than that. Would it not be the best way to end this tiring conflict? With love?"

"You're so sentimental. No, it would be best to end this conflict with a more permanent solution."

"Always the pessimist Severus. I wish you all the best in this world, my old friend."

"As I wish you in the next. Goodbye, Albus."

"Goodbye, Severus."

A/N: So, that's that. The book is not over of course, but its winding down to its last legs. I will be taking a break in between books 2 and 3 to release a short story. It will be a fun lil Romance/Mystery involving Harry and Emily, and I'll leave you all some clues as to what its about as we get to our conclusion here. Unfortunately, it won't be... big, but I'd wager in between 30k to 50k words. I already have the whole thing planned out, the timeline of the book will take place in the span of a week... give or take 20 years. First clue. Probably the only clue some of the more clever readers will need.


	17. Chapter 17

A/N: Back to the Emily Harry goodness. Haven't had a hard core moment romantic between them in a while it seems. Though maybe thats cuz I'm writing it, and it just feels like forever.

Chapter 17

Emily had been long finished with her interrogation of Moody when Harry emerged from the headmaster's office. She had disillusioned his unconscious body in a corner and had been waiting patiently under his invisibility cloak. Though she hadn't thought much of it at the time, he somehow managed to meet her invisible eyes.

"We need to leave."

There was urgency in his voice but he was not panicking. She could feel that much. While his emotions were in quite a turmoil he was not feeling threatened. So she decided to save the questions for later. They were deep in the midst of the Forbidden Forest before she put a hand on his shoulder and he stopped.

"We need to talk." Though the information she pulled from Mad Eye's head was not groundbreaking news, she still felt the need to share it as quickly as possible.

"You're right, we should discuss some things."

"Albus Dumbledore is dying." Emily said the phrase flatly, wanting to convey as little of her joy as possible at the news. She knew Harry respected and cared for the old man.

"I know, I would wager to say all the information you have gathered is rather pale in comparison to mine, so I think I should start."

Seeing as she had dropped the largest bomb on him first and he apparently had even bigger things to tell her, she acquiesced with a nod.

"Dumbledore's gotten a hold of all of your horcruxes. All of them."

She froze. "Excuse me?"

Emily heard the words, but they didn't full register for a few seconds. When they did make their way through however she could only say she feel a calm sense of anger. Her emotions were intense but not consuming.

"Remain here, Harry. I will return shortly."

This time it was his touch that brought her to a stop. She turned on him snarling.

"Oh, come on, Harry. You, can't expect me to just let this go. THIS OF ALL THINGS. He holds my life in his hands. And I will be taking it back through ANY means necessary."

"Listen to me, Emily. If I honestly thought there was a chance of getting them back I would be on board with you. I would. But this is Dumbledore, you know he probably has them all located in Siberia or something. We aren't going to find them nor will we get them by questioning him."

"You think I'd just question him? I am going to torture the information out of him. He will tell me, and then he will die prematurely."

Emily wrenched herself away from him. She was not going to be deterred.

"If you keep walking towards that castle Emily, you're not going to find me waiting here."

"Then wait for me at the Malfoy Manor."

"No, I mean I won't be waiting for you at all."

Emily stopped dead in her tracks. The threat was so powerful she couldn't even bring herself to turn around. The largest movement her petrified body could make was the slightest tilt of her head. Just enough to see him standing from the corner of her eye.

"You don't mean that."

"I am. If you don't leave with me right now, then you can consider us over."

She didn't even stop to mull it over, it was already a foregone conclusion. She turned on her heel and walked away from the castle back to him. She gently took his hand in hers and with a soft pop, they were gone.

* * *

For three days, Harry had waited to speak to Emily. She had indeed brought them to Malfoy Manor, and had then proceeded to barricade herself in a room there. She had refused all of his attempts to coax her out. He understood her position easily. Obviously she felt betrayed. If only she would listen to him.

She had ignored him completely through out all of his attempts within the first day. After that he decided that he would wait for her to come to him. And he did this in the most obnoxious way possible, setting up a bed right outside the room she had remained secluded in. No one intruded their wing of the Manor, the Malfoy's and other Death Eater's somehow knowing that their master was in a terrible mood.

It was on the fourth night when the door opened, though Harry did not notice it. He was only roused from his slumber when the bed was jostled as another person climbed onto it. He woke to pitch blackness, the only hint of light being the dull red sheen from two points right in front of his face. Emily's eyes.

He tried to speak but before he could even part his lips her fingers were there, telling him to stay silent. Soon after, the finger was replaced by her lips and they lost themselves in the moment. Harry did his best to convey his feelings to her through sex, but he was uncertain if she felt them physically. He could only hope that their ever failing connection was feeding his emotions to her during their intercourse.

She remained astride his body the entire time, and once he climaxed, she laid her body entirely against him, kissing him on the lips again. He stayed quiet, knowing that if she wanted him to speak, she'd ask him a question.

"I can't believe you did that to me." The words were a whisper, but with her face inches from his own, he heard it clearly. "Though I shouldn't be surprised. You've always had the ability to hold what we are over my head. Anyone else would have forced my hand long ago."

He wanted to deny it, wanted to tell her that's not how things had gone down, but he knew it what she said was pure truth. He had given her an ultimatum, he had finally placed his foot down and told her where the line needed to be drawn. It was almost unfair, though, that she only saw the situation in a light that hurt her. That had not been his intention.

"I have not always trusted you, Harry. But before this, had anyone told me that what happened three days ago was going to happen, I'd have killed them. For I could never see you betraying me. Not in the way you did."

Now was a point in which he could defend himself, but he stayed quiet. He wanted her to tell him everything she wanted to. He felt terrible for the decision he made, right or wrong, and wanted to share in the pain she felt. So he let her continue.

"I've spent the last three days making excuses for you, for what you did. Told myself it was for me. That if I had gone in their to retrieve my horcruxes they would have probably been destroyed instead. I believe that to be true even. Looking back on the moment, had I returned to the castle, I am certain that would have been the outcome." She paused.

"But even if death itself awaited me there, you should never have said what you did. There will never be a moment in our lives where those words can ever leave your lips. Say anything else in the world, but never that. Do you understand me?"

There it was, the question. "Yes."

Silenced reigned for a long time, neither of them saying a word. Harry had hoped she would have moved past the conversation, but assumed that she had said all she wanted to say. Though he did have much he wished to discuss with her, he felt that the morning would be the best time to do so.

* * *

Emily woke the next morning feeling refreshed. Though her sleep had lasted barely three hours, she felt better than she had since before their trip home. Her self imposed separation from Harry had been unpleasant, but she had been so shocked by his declaration. What followed next was an anger so volatile that she did not dare to reveal herself to him out of fear of what she may do to him.

It was, in truth, the first time she had ever felt her fury directed at him, since her rebirth anyway. He had irked her in the past, pissed her off a couple times as well. But he had never invoked rage inside of her. At one point in time, she had thought him not to be capable of it, or rather, thought she was incapable of feeling it towards him. Now she knew that was not the case. He could most certainly push her over the edge, just as anyone else could. She was just willing to show restraint where he was concerned.

She remained halfway atop of the young man in question for two more hours, before she felt him starting to stir. She watched as he blinked groggily, craning his neck downwards to find her looking at him, almost shyly. He smiled at her, and then frowned, as though the previous happy expression had been a knee jerk reaction.

"We should talk about everything else from the other day."

"We should. I gather you have more information to share?"

"Of course. Dumbledore's dying is your doing, if its any condolence. One of the protections on a horcrux did it. Burned his entire hand to a crisp and is apparently killing him."

"My family ring then. Good, at least I can rest easily with the knowledge that I killed that bastard in the end."

"He's... at peace with it. He says he's ready for the next adventure."

"Hmph, a load of tripe. Nothing lies beyond death but obliteration."

Harry paused, possibly pondering her words and beliefs before continuing on. "I also am, apparently, the Master of Death."

Emily was shocked by Harry's proclamation. Surely he couldn't be being serious. Emily knew the story of course. She was enamored with the magical world as a child when she first heard of it and had come across the Tales of Beedle and the Bard at a young age. Though she believed most of the stories to be the fancy imaginings they were for children's amusement, she did place some credit in the tale of the three brothers. The existence of the elder wand had large amounts of credence as far as legends went. It could be tracked through history to some extent.

As a child and teenager she had fancied the idea of attempting to track down the wand and own it for herself, but grew out of the idea eventually. She did not need a superior wand, she was a superior witch. There was no need for a more powerful tool. Therefore the idea of owning the elder wand faded to the back of her mind.

"Show me the three items of death, then. I assume your cloak is one. I can buy that as I've even spent sometime investigating its... unique properties. But a stone to return the dead and the elder wand, I'll need to see."

Harry just nodded leaning to the side of the bed, and began to rifle through his discarded robes. She was shocked when he pulled out a very familiar stone, and to make matters worse, the wand itself tickled her memory as well.

"This stone, was the setting in one of my horcruxes, the very ring we were just speaking of. As for the wand, I'd wager that wand is your headmaster's."

"Yes." Harry nodded.

"Hmph, take that stone and put it as far from me as possible. I do not wish to ever lay eyes on it again."

Harry gave her a disgruntled look, so she explained. "There are none who have died that I ever wish to meet again. I do not even like ghosts. I have sent far too many people to oblivion to ever desire to speak with any on the other side of life."

"Right, I shouldn't be surprised you think like that." Harry once again leaned over the edge of the bed and put away the stone. She was horrified that such an object had been her horcrux at one time. No, the dead could all stay on their side and rot. Neither she or Harry would ever be joining them.

She looked at the wand carefully when he returned to view. "Let me see that." She watched the unease run across his face and couldn't help but wonder why. It was only a moment before he gave a short nod and passed the wand to her. She tried using her ability to sense magic to find something uncommon about it, but the wand seemed to be just any other wand. Of course, to her, it was. She was certain that if Dumbledore passed the wand to Harry, it had been through a trial of combat.

"Did you duel the headmaster for this?"

Harry nodded to her, and she questioned him further. "What do you feel when you hold it, compared to your other wand?"

"Hard to describe, its different that's for certain, but its really uncomfortable. I honestly prefer my holly wand."

Emily mused to herself silently. The Deathstick itself laid in her hands, all she had to do was kill her lover. He had a horcrux, she could bring him back. Emily scoffed, shaking her head. Her dreams of power were always trying to tempt her into doing things that may not be ideal. She'd not fall to them this time. After all, in truth, she much rather preferred Harry own the wand. It would only increase his safety. She passed the wand back to him.

"Tell no one that you have the Elder wand, Harry. It will only draw misfortune to you. Swear to me now you won't even tell your best friends or godfather. No one."

"I'm not that thick, Emily. I know."

"Good. It, along with the cloak, can keep you safe when I can not. As for the stone, I'd honestly rather you destroy it."

"I can't. Dumbledore didn't come out and say it, but I think he believed that one day, I might need it."

"Fine, but as I said, k-"

"Keep it away from you, got it. You won't ever have to look at it again, promise."

"Thank you. Now, any other important news to share? Though I doubt anything could top what you've told me so far."

"Not really, but I can tell you Dumbledore's plan. He has your horcruxes hidden away. If you start another war or anything crazy like that, someone will destroy your horcruxes. Then I'll have to die and then you'll be mortal for me to kill you."

"Well except for the tiny little fact that you'll be dead and I am one of the few people alive, other than Dumbledore and you, actually, who know you even have a horcrux. Either way, its not as if you'd ever strike me down, would you?"

Harry scoffed at her. "You should know I would."

Emily frowned. "Well its not going to happen, my take over will be bloodless this time. I make no promises for when I conquer the rest of the world however."

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

It was as though their little tiff had never happened, Emily thought. Harry probably didn't even remember that she planned on creating one final horcrux. Once she did, she'd keep it her own little secret, just in case. After all, if Harry did kill her one day, she knew he'd be plagued by guilt. She wander as a wraith for some time, then return to him to restore her. He would do it, he was weak where she was concerned.

The two of them spent the next few days doing various things separately from one another. She had things she needed to do in light of Dumbledore's eventual passing. Harry, simply bid her farewell each morning before using the floor to go to the Leaky Cauldron. She didn't question him, only making certain he had his cloak, wand, and an emergency portkey. He returned every evening to have dinner with her and they retired every night to bed together.

* * *

Eventually, time caught up with them and they made their way into May. Once again Emily was waiting for Harry to make a move in regards to their travels, but he didn't say a thing. She decided to bring it up to him over breakfast one morning.

"Harry, love, when will we be leaving?"

"Oh, er, well I kinda figured we could, maybe, stay?" His pitched crept up half an octave at the final word and she knew he wanted to make certain she was okay with it.

"Of course. As a matter of fact I was thinking we could go ahead and sign you up to take your NEWTs at the ministry."

"What about Potions?"

Emily let out a dramatic sigh. "Harry you act as though you plan on getting a job in the future. You're going to be my trophy husband, you won't have any need for every single NEWT in the books."

"I'm not sure if I need to feel belittled by that or not."

"What is there to be belittled about? You are soon to be the husband of the future Minister of Magic. What better title could you ask for?"

"Oh I don't know, Minister of Magic?"

Emily's fork clatter onto her plate, she hadn't expected that.

"You, wish to be the Minister? Harry, you loathe the attention you get by being the boy who lived, why on earth would you desire to be the minister?"

"I was being sarcastic, Emily. I don't want to be known as the minister, or even as the boy who lived. I just also happen to think that being know only as 'Emily Potter's husband', won't be something I'm itching to hear either."

Emily laughed. He really was too silly sometimes. "Harry, I was being facetious you know. I'm not so conceited to think that being the Minister's spouse will outstrip the name Harry Potter."

"Wow, you know, I never thought the words, 'I'm not so conceited' would ever leave your lips, but it has _actually_ happened. I just need to find out if you really mean it or not."

"Okay, okay, you've had your fun. I am more than aware that I think the world of myself. But lets be honest, you share the opinion as well."

He smiled at her, the special one that took her breath away. "I do. I just feel as though I need to pull you back down to earth before all that hot air in your head floats you away too much. As for being an elected official, how do you plan on going about that?"

"It should be obvious. I will do as all others have done and win the votes."

"Yeah, I can see that going down well. Someone's going to link the name Emily Riddle to Voldemort if you throw it out there like that."

"By the time this happens I will be Emily Potter."

"Records still exist though. They'll find your surname and track you down eventually. How do you plan on getting around that."

"Harry this isn't the muggle world. Not everyone has a name and number that the government keeps track of. Emily Riddle vanished a few years outside of Hogwarts and was never seen again. Now, yes, if someone did some digging, they may find out that she was a descendant of Salazar Slytherin, and by digging, I mean spend years finding said information. But they'd have to find my, ahem, records." She refused to refer to anything of hers as muggle, even her records in the muggle system as an orphan.

"Once they do that, they may connect me to the incident involving Myrtle's murder. But I still disappeared when I was barely more than a child. No one knows my true name other than you, Dumbledore, a scant few people in his Order, and a certain whore."

Harry nodded across from the small table, ignoring the obvious dig at his best friend's sister. "So your name won't be a problem, unless Dumbledore or someone outs you."

"Precisely, and seeing as he hasn't yet, I think we can assume its safe to say he won't. He is more than well aware that I am willing to kill to keep that information secret. The fact that you know is a mere fluke. If my foolish teenaged self had kept her mouth shut when she tried to kill you, then even you would not have known."

"Well I'm personally glad she spent more time running off at the mouth then trying to kill me. Are you not?"

"Oh of course I'm glad that she, or rather I, failed to kill you then, but it still irks me that I was so short sighted at that age."

"You can't expect yourself to always be perfect Emily." The table the two of them ate at was relatively small, so when he reached his hand over the table to hold hers she accepted the gesture. She could have had dinner with him in the manor's extravagant dining hall, but wanted their meal times to be more intimate. So each morning and evening she would transfigure the bed into a table and have a house elf bring them food. The lack of interruption was also pleasant, as the dining hall was where the Malfoy's ate, and she was quite certain that Lucius would try and dig his nails into Harry as much as possible. He was a slimy snake, but had a keen knack for finding the value of things. He would use the tenuous friendship Harry had struck up with Draco to worm his way into Harry's good graces as much as possible. One, to elevate his own status to the public as a friend to the boy who lived. Two, to elevate himself in her eyes as a friend to her lover. Fortunately, she was fairly certain that Harry strongly disliked the man, and evaded him as much as he could.

Lucius Malfoy even had the stones to buy Harry a Christmas gift. She had chucked the damned thing in a corner of the room, but Lucius must have discovered she had done so as another one had appeared when they returned. She had been on the outs with Harry at the time and he found it and opened it. It was a Firebolt. Some how the man had figured out Harry's had been destroyed and forked over an incredible sum of money to buy it for him. Harry had asked her to return it to the man, but she refused. She knew he loved to fly, and convinced him to keep it. Though she made sure to inform him of Lucius' ulterior motives.

Emily was aware of something going on, at least in some way. She noticed Harry watching her intently at times, as though waiting for something. She couldn't possibly figure out what, however. Whenever they engaged in intercourse, it almost felt as though he was trying to overload their connection with his desire. He always poured in his need for her body as soon she undressed. While it was an intoxicating and enjoyable thing, she couldn't understand the intensity of it. Still, each and everytime he did it, she would moan his name in a way that pushed him over the edge. Their couplings sometimes barely lasted over a minute. Though he was always ready for more soon after, and he lasted much longer the second time. All of this perplexed her until one morning when it all came to light.

Emily awoke in a fluster. Something was not right. Something was missing. She could feel the heat of Harry under her body, could smell he scent. But it was all wrong, it felt off. He didn't smell as tantalizing, she didn't feel the pull in her groin she normally felt when their naked bodies touched. What was worse, was that she didn't feel their connection through his horcrux. This in and of itself was not rare, but until now, she always felt it when they maintained skin contact.

Swiftly Emily shoved her arm under the body below her and threw him into the wall. Hard. There was a loud smack and she could even hear bones snapping, but she held no pity for this obvious intruder's cries of pain. He failed to mimic the one thing he needed to truly pose as Harry Potter in front of her, and he would pay dearly for it.

"Bloody hell, Emily." The unknown person spit out a wad of blood, probably from a punctured lung. Good, she wanted him to suffer.

"Who are you?"

"Harry Potter, you crazy bint, your fiance. Why the fuck did you do that?" The words were interspersed with gasps of pain.

"Oh, well then, dearest Harry. If you are, in fact, my fiance, then tell me, what is my engagement ring made of?"

"Gold from a galleon and a lens from my glasses." His breathing started to become erratic and his words were jumbled.

Her anger broke. "Harry? Oh my god, love, I am so sorry." She quickly began healing him, mending his bones and fixing his lung. It only took a few moments, but she even went as far as calling for a house elf to get Bellatrix. Harry passed out somewhere in the middle of it all. Of course, she had the sense to clothe him, but failed in doing the same for herself, so when the witch arrived Emily heard the woman's gasp of surprise. Looking to the woman and noticing her eyes locked on her Emily looked down at herself. She then locked eyes with her follower and sneered.

"Have you not seen a pair of tits before? Check him over, there was a mishap. I'll get dressed in the bathroom."

Emily fumed at Bella's daftness, and was honestly slightly annoyed by herself. Infuriating woman just standing there as her lover may have been in danger, ogling her body. She finished getting dressed with a huff, and returned to the bedroom.

"Is everything fine?"

"Yes, my lord. Just some bruising on his back that was missed. I've set him to rights." The woman bowed her head to Emily, "I deeply apologize for my lack of respect towards you master. Please, forgive my foolishness."

Emily, still feeling angry about it, did not forgive her. "Leave, we will discuss this and your punishment at a later time." Emily watched as the woman stood, nodded stiffly and left.

Emily brought him back to consciousness with a wave of her wand. He lifted himself to a sitting position stiffly. She spoke to him softly, "Love, I am so sorry for that. I panicked this morning when I couldn't feel you. I thought you were, well, not you."

Harry groaned as he stretched his newly mended body. He took a deep breath and released it, before looking to her. "Tell me Emily, do you love me? More than anything else in this world?"

"Yes, irrevocably."

Harry smiled, and it was beaming. She wanted so badly to jump on top of him, but the desire was still so uncomfortably different than what it used to be. She gazed at his face, touching him. She tried to invoked the fires of lust she had for him just last night, the ones that burned her in an almost painful manner. But she only felt the heat rise to a simmer. A dull, weak flame, like that of a candle. It was there, but so much less than it should be.

"You look confused, and I think I can clear it up."

She kept touching his face, listening to him speak. "Our connection is gone, Emily. Your horcrux faded at some point last night."

"How do you know this? What happened?"

"Dumbledore suspected it. Told me he'd been monitoring the magic in my scar, noticed it getting weaker. Told me how to fix it."

"Then why let it die, love? Why did you not just fix it?"

"Sorry. Not fix. Replace. He taught me how to replace the horcrux."

Emily's heart rate finally eased to a normal level. This was reparable. "When can you do it?"

"Right now."

Emily smiled. "Good, but why didn't you tell me? Why leave me in the dark? How long have you known?"

"Hold your thestrals, Emily, one question at a time. I've known for months. It was the letter Dumbledore sent me right before my suicide. I didn't tell you, because I couldn't trust how you would react. I figured you'd either A, say Dumbledore was full of shite, or B, panic and do something crazy. I know how much you value the horcrux in me, and I couldn't risk you going off the deep end if there was another solution."

"So that explains our return to Britain."

"Yeah, I honestly wasn't certain what would happen once the horcrux was gone. A part of me, a ridiculously tiny part, suspected that you may not even love me any more. But you told me once, that I had to fix it should it ever happen, so I took the steps I needed to, and here we are. Your soul is in pretty bad condition, torn apart inside your body, so all I need to do is pull a small piece out and place it back in my scar."

She laughed at that. There was no need for him to do that now that she knew. "No, I will do it. Soul magic is dangerous Harry, especially if you plan on putting a horcrux in your skull. I'd rather take the risk myself."

"You can't."

"Of course, I can."

"No, you literally can't do it Emily."

"Harry Potter, I am capable of anything you are, please explain why on earth I can't do this."

"Because if you do, it will be your final horcrux."

"Something I am more than fine with."

"Yes, but I'm not. All of your horcruxes are in the hands of someone else right now, Emily. If they were to destroy them in this moment, I could kill you in the next. If you intentionally create a seventh horcrux inside me, then your soul will stabilize at seven and you won't be able to make another one. You'll be stuck without a real horcrux to keep you alive. If I do it though, it won't be the same as your magic, because I will lack your intent. It will allow you to make one final horcrux that you can hide away."

He took a deep breath, "This is my way of keeping you safe."

Emily didn't need their connection to know that he was being sincere and at last, felt the inferno of desire flare up inside of her. Finally, she felt the intense craving for him that she had been missing. She flung herself on him throwing him back down onto the bed.

"Later," She spoke through heavy breathes and kisses on his neck and lips. "We'll take care of it, right after you take care of me, love."

A/N: hahah. Gettin it. So Emily's love can survive the destruction of the horcrux. yay. True love conquers all ya know. Just a couple more plot points til the end. The ending won't be as satisfying as the first one, with the whole escape from Britain and being together. That was, in my humble opinion, a real HUMDINGER. One that I can't top, even if it'll be a 'nice day for a, Black wedding.' Anyway, I've once again stocked up WAY too much PTO this year and have to take a week off in September. Some of you guys might remember last year when we made that final mad dash to the ending that week. We'll be doing the same this year. Cept it won't be a mad dash, cuz there's only like... four, maybe five chapters left. Laterz.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

When Harry actually got around to replacing the horcrux, the task was easy. The act of doing it was anyway. However, what he did not anticipate was the large amount of pain that followed. For both of them. Emily grit her teeth immediately as soon as he cast the spell and when he noticed he tried to hurry the process along, which left him unprepared for his share when the horcrux entered his body.

The pain was immense, and the pressure was even more so. It felt like acid was frothing about on the surface of his face. Along with someone taking a mallet and slamming it into the same area repeatedly.

Fortunately, the spell was quick and they suffered for only a handful of seconds each. "I'm sorry, Harry. I knew to expect my pain, but I've never created a living horcrux before, other than what happened in the past, so I didn't know it would be painful for you as well." He found himself lying in her arms as she stroked the scar on his forehead.

"Its fine, already fading. You okay?"

"Of course, love. More than okay, I can finally feel you."

Harry had to assume that everything had gone according to plan. He was happy. The destruction of her horcrux within him would probably be one of the largest hindrances to both of their plans, now and in the future. He'd have to take every precaution he could to keep it safe. This line of pondering brought up a thought he had long ago.

"Hey, Emily?"

"Hm?"

Though they were quite close, Harry wished he could sit up to have this conversation. He didn't act upon the desire as he was certain Emily was more than content with his head in her lap. "The whole idea of making a horcrux for me, why didn't you place it in your body, and give me the same connection that you have?"

"I had actually planned that from the beginning." She laughed at his blatant look of surprise.

"Yes, I had been planning the creation of your horcrux long before the issue came up. Originally I was going to have you kill some idiotic muggle that I imperiused to do something horrible right in front of you. Something so terrible you would feel no remorse for the action. Of course, there were several snags to my plan. For one, my body is not suitable for a horcrux. Its a magical container for my soul and that is it. It can not hold another."

"However, due to the special circumstances to its creation, it held a small affinity for your soul, so it was not outright impossible. Your blood and your mothers protection were both infused into my body. I just needed something more... stable. Wormtail's flesh wasn't suitable. Fortunately this body is rather flexible, once its created I can restructure it though similar rituals as the first. Something I had been planning to do either way, as my faithful servant only barely filled the requirements."

Harry stopped her here. "I'm a bit lost, you said the three things needed were an enemy's blood, a relatives bone, and then a friend's flesh. How exactly can you swap out the flesh part?"

"Thats just to create a body that my soul can firmly attach to. You seem to not understand a fundamental principal here, a soul is NOT meant to remain here once the body perishes. It is only ever meant to bind itself to one body and one alone. After that, only death awaits."

"So once your soul is actually attached, your saying you can modify the building blocks?"

"Precisely, though the concept is simpler than the process. My body was manufactured for my soul, but I needed to remake it to hold yours. So when I killed your aunt to save you, I also helped myself to her body as well." Emily didn't look him in the eye at this, knowing he hadn't been happy about that decision of hers.

"So you went through all that trouble, why not go through with it?"

Emily gave a heavy sigh, turning her head to look out the window. "I didn't go through with it in the end, because I realized that I had one shot at making you a horcrux. Only one, and if I used my body, my body that is often in danger, I was more likely to lose it than keep it safe."

"After all, the only reason I wanted you to have the same connection as I have was that I wanted you to desire me as I desired you. I wanted you to never be able to leave me. Fortunately, I am soon to receive something that is almost as good."

"Oh? Like what?"

"Marriage vows, obviously. Once we tie the knot, you won't ever leave me."

"Oh? Why not?"

She looked at him incredulously. "Harry, weddings involve vows. Something I am sure you know, but what you may not have taken into account is that vow for muggles and magical folk are not the same. One is a flimsy promise that is upheld through faith and force of will. The others tend to be binding magical contracts."

"Wait a minute here. So your entire reason for me marrying you is to make sure I don't make a break for it in the future?" He wanted to laugh.

"Of course not, don't be daft. There is the secondary reason that I wish to spend the rest of my life with you."

"But primarily, its so I don't leave you?"

"Yes."

He couldn't help but stare at her stupidly. "I'm not sure what to say to that."

"What is there to say? All I'll be needing from your lips are 'I do'. It will be quite simple."

"You're totally trying to trap me with a marriage. I'm not sure if the plan is brilliant, or just plain insulting."

"Well, its obviously brilliant. I came up with it. Though using marriage vows to trap someone in a relationship has been an age old trick. The vows can only be dissolved through mutual consent, as they are made, and many times there is an unwilling partner."

Harry nodded his head, "So its not something people enter into lightly."

"Of course not, not like those idiotic muggles. Some go through spouses at the rate they do clothes. Its disgusting. Of course, we do have the occasional case like Mrs. Zabini."

"Who?"

"The mother of a gentleman in your year, Slytherin. She is on her fourth spouse I believe. The woman marries wealthy, murders the husband and moves on to another victim. Her first marriage was a tragedy though, she had once been in a very loving relationship. Her husband was a follower of mine, he died early on in the first war. She took it hard and now preys on any hapless muggleborn or halfblood with enough galleons to keep her amused."

"So, your saying either its a mutual break up or death as far as marriage goes?"

"Yes, though, mutual break up is putting it lightly. The process is damaging, its been known to make squibs of people in the past. Most deal with their foolish choices of youth and make the best of things."

He didn't respond and she didn't continue. After a few minutes of silence he asked her a question.

"Am I going to remain as young as I am with a horcrux made? Or will I eventually die from old age?"

"No, you will still age, and your body will perish. But I'll be at the ready to fashion you a new immortal coil. One that is similar to my own." She smirked at him and he rolled his eyes at her and changed gears.

"We've strayed from the topic. So if the whole wedding isn't necessary, why are you planning such a massive event?" Emily frowned. Somehow he had noticed her organizing quite the extravagant party. Still maybe she could dodge his line of questioning as much as possible.

"Pureblood customs and all. Nothing to be nervous over."

"Customs my arse. What are you planning, Emily?"

Emily sighed, he wasn't letting this go. "It's as you suspect, you know. You don't even have to ask. I'm planning such a large scale event to firmly attach my name to your fame. You can control the masses, Harry, and through you, I will control them as well."

"Aren't you going to be needing a little bit more clout if you're planning on taking over the government? Just being the wife of Harry Potter won't mean you can run the country."

"Quite true, which is why I've been planning one final feat before we exchange our vows at the altar."

"I'm listening."

"I am going to kill Lord Voldemort."

Emily summoned her inner circle to her. It was late, and Harry was asleep. He had questioned her extensively on her last bit of news, but she remained tight lipped about it. He would get nothing from her, otherwise he would refuse to go along with the plan. She herself didn't like the idea she had crafted. But, she had to admit, it was perfect. If she killed Voldemort with her own hands, in front of witnesses, she would be lauded a hero, on par with Harry himself. It also had the benefit of erasing any ideas anyone may have on her attachment to her old moniker.

Her inner circle had diminished recently. The people had not left her or died, she simply changed the criteria. Normally she favored the powerful and most influential of her followers, in order to keep the rest of the Purebloods underneath her heel. But for this, she needed those whom she could trust. Well, not trust, but she needed people who held her in the greatest regard.

Lucius, Narcissa, Bella, Rodolphus, Rabastan, and Bartemeous. The latter four worshipped the ground she walked on. The first two were extremely capable. Well, Lucius was, and if he was going to be present, his wife would be needed as well.

"Bella, did you retrieve the item I asked you for?"

"Yes, my lord. It was exactly as you suspected. The house elf had it with him."

The raven haired witch presented a silver locket to Emily, with an S engraved on it elegantly. No one here knew the significance of this item, though Lucius could probably figure it out if he put enough thought into it.

It had been a decision she had made on a whim. There had been little evidence to suggest that Regulus had actually laid his hands on her horcrux, but she recalled that when she killed him, he had smiled at her and said, "You will fall, and I have done my part."

Of course, she had immediately checked the location of the horcrux that she had borrowed the Black family elf for. She had been so relieved to see it there, with her traps undisturbed, she didn't bother checking if it were authentic. However, there was the smallest chance that it was stolen away, and if so, she knew that it would be somewhere inside the Black ancestral home. Which was impenetrable as it was the Order's headquarters.

So she decided to ask another member of the House of Black to do the snooping for her. She had told Bellatrix to contact the family house elf at a proper time and inquire about the locket. The elf had been belligerent and left immediately upon the questions, but Bellatrix was still a member of the house and called him back forcefully. She ordered the beast to retrieve the locket and what took place afterwards shocked the woman.

Kreacher outright refused the order and proceeded to smash his head into the stone walls. The elf had all but incapacitated itself all in an attempt to balk at her commands. Fortunately Bellatrix was a capable witch and her second request, made with the usage of the imperius curse, worked wonders.

Emily only held the locket for a moment before turning to look at all of them. "I have an important task for all of you. You all know that Dumbledore is dying. Our greatest opposition will soon be gone, but we still have more hurdles to pass over. Our identity as Death Eaters and rebels being the most restrictive." She turned to Barty. "Keep this on you at all times Barty. It will guide you to a power you have never before possessed. It will speak to you and teach you. Place in it the same faith you have placed in me. You will be the key that will rid us of our opposition. Now leave us, the rest shall follow shortly.

She watched the man leave. He seemed dazed, not even looking where he was going, only looking at the new treasure his master had given him. When he had left them, she turned her gaze to the rest of her followers.

"You are all to go with him. The item I gave him is a powerful artifact that can bend the mind and body. Within a month, he will no longer be Barty Crouch. He will be myself, as I was decades ago. The woman you met in the very beginning. You are to follow this other me, do her bidding, and tell her of her defeat by Harry Potter."

Emily continued the conversation at length. They would tell her doppelganger of the prophecy and everything that had transpired until her death. Emily knew that, as a person, she had always been overconfident. Her 'other' would order her followers to bring the boy to her. Then Emily would use them to create a confrontation between Lord Voldemort and Harry Potter. She had taught Harry well, he would be capable of defending himself from her. Even if he wasn't, the horcrux did not have the same immunity to his mother's charm as she did. She would never be able to kill him.

During the midst of the battle she would trip Harry up and claim the kill herself. She would then help route her followers into custody, before her wedding. Barty would be dead, the Lestranges had no direct family, and Malfoy would walk out of his trail with money. Society would face little impact through this. Once she rose to power, she would free the Lestranges one last time with the help of the Department of Mysteries. The three were happy and at the same time, horrified. No one would want to return to Azkaban, but Emily told them she had plans to exterminate the Dementors as soon as possible. Their happiness was brought about by the light at the end of the tunnel that all of them could see. Finally, the purebloods would rise again.

This would be a painful sacrifice for her, as it would mean the destruction of the only real horcrux that remained in her possession. It was also why Harry would never agree to the plan, he would refuse to let her give it up. But she was resolved. Everything would happen as she needed it to, and it would need to happen quickly. She had a wedding coming up. First things first, however, she needed to get in contact with the Order. Thankfully she had the perfect little mole to do so.

Emily sat outside on the terrace, gazing at the ridiculous white fowl that meandered the lawn. Lucius had queer tastes. She relaxed in the sun's rays until she heard the approach of footsteps. Languidly moving her head, she noticed a flaming red head approach her.

"How nice of you to join me, Miss Weasley."

"I won't lie to you by saying the same."

"Oh come now, aren't we just the closest of friends now? Do our bonds not run quite deep?"

Ginny gave a bark of derisive laughter, "Not bonds, what you left on me were scars. And yes, they do run quite deep."

"You say tomāto, I say tomato. Regardless, I have some news for your little Order."

"Considering I am not a member, I can't help you."

Emily smirked at her. "Ah, yes, still a child. Poor girl, no wonder Harry never really looked twice at you. Not when he had a grown woman around. A-"

"Tell me, I'm curious. Does Harry call you his grandmother when the two of you are together? I'd wager the sex must be rather boring, considering you probably dried up decades ago."

Emily's smile dropped. The one thing that irked her about the relationship she had with Harry was their age difference. She felt it more so, when she had just started indulging in her attraction for him, but it had never fully faded. Though her appearance was young, she was seventy years of age. The red head hit her where she was most uncomfortable.

She would hit back the same way, rubbing her intimacy with Harry in the girl's face. "Don't you worry about the sex, child. After all, he may not be here now, but I've still got some of him here." She made a motion towards her sexual organs and the teen's eyes widened and her face turned red.

"Y-You're pregnant?"

Emily's eyes widened as well at the accusation and she back pedaled. "No you twit, I mean we had sex recently. I won't be pregnant for a couple years, at the very least." Deciding to stop anymore incoming confusion, she steered the conversation back to its main point. "We can exchange barbs at a later time. I have some dire information for your Order."

"I can pass what you say along, though don't expect much."

"This knowledge must go directly to Dumbledore. One of the items he collected was a fake. The real one has latched onto someone and he should expect problems."

"The headmaster's bed ridden. He can't move. As for those items, don't tell me Professor Dumbledore has your horcruxes."

Emily stayed silent, causing the younger woman's mouth to fall open. "Oh my god, he has them doesn't he. He has them all. Well, all but one apparently.

"Yes, he does." Emily bit out tersely. "And the one he looked over has found itself a victim. Think back on the tender memories you have of your first year. I'd wager there will be another Lord Voldemort running around in about a month."

"Bullshit."

Emily looked at the woman appraisingly, but said nothing. "If this was true, you would be tracking the horcrux down yourself. Get it back under your control so you have some leeway in regards to the Order's noose around your neck. You gave your horcrux away."

The youngest Weasley was spot on in her assessment. Had this not been her own plan, she would obviously be furiously tracking down the item in question. However, the young girl before her did know her better than anyone else, even Harry in certain areas. It was part of the reason she had been so keen on getting the girl as an ally, even if said alliance was a forged attempt to keep Harry safe.

Ginny continued, "So that begs the question: why?" Why give your horcrux away? But you already told me that answer. You gave it away to create another Voldemort. So if you're warn the Order about her, you don't plan on being her ally. You plan on having the Order kill the fake you, end the existence of Lord Voldemort, and then Emily Riddle can exist without any suspicion. Am I right?"

Emily was annoyed. Though the girl had made some assumptions in her assessment that were completely wrong, the basic idea not only held water, but was true. Of course, young Ginny didn't realize the grander plan. Ginny only thought of Emily wanting to be with Harry. She didn't expect Emily's deeper motives. The girl was bright, but she was still so naive.

"For the most part, yes. There is no need to worry for Harry, your headmaster will understand that. All I need him to do is focus on the new threat and how to eliminate it."

"You purposely create a calamity and then tell someone else to clean it up. You're a real piece of work Emily."

"Well, at least your Order can be of use to me."

"Not my Order and even if it were, you and we would be on opposing sides. The Order was created to fight you!"

"And now I am giving it purpose by creating a me it can oppose. So you see, I have actually done this for you." Emily smirked.

"Whatever. So how do we kill her?"

"That's your problem. Figure it out yourselves." There was no way Emily was going to reveal that she planned on doing the deed herself. The only reason she planned on revealing to the Order that a horcrux of hers was coming to life was so that they didn't assume the eventual destruction was her doing. If they did, she could kiss the rest of her horcruxes goodbye.

"Oh hell no. You want this for you, so your going to help us. Now talk."

Emily despised being ordered about, but this was for the plan. Once upon a time she had lowered herself to flirting with Professor Slughorn in order to get information on horcruxes, she could swallow a bit of attitude. She did it with Harry all the time when he had a mood swing.

"Don't presume to think you can speak to me like that. I may have promised Harry I wouldn't kill you, but I am more than willing to subject you to the Cruciatus curse. As for killing her. I suggest doing it quickly. She will look like me, but she will not have my abilities. The horcrux will only control the body, not actually become someone else. However, she will only grow more powerful the longer she stays alive."

"I don't understand. With the diary, it wasn't like that."

"My diary is unique, even for a horcrux. There was much more than my soul in that book. It was literally my diary, it held my memories, dreams and hopes. It was more than just a soul fragment, and that was why it only needed your soul and magic to create a new body. Its why I left it with Lucius and not hidden away. I wanted it to eventually makes its way into someone's hands."

"Okay, so fight her as soon as possible. Anything else you can spare?"

"Her followers will be few. Just four. Of course she may try to obtain more, but I believe she will more preoccupied with other things."

"Like?"

"Killing Harry Potter. I will not be able to stand knowing a child bested me. A baby actually. My few followers have been instructed to follow her faithfully. They are aware that she needs to die, they will be ready to betray her when the time arises. Well, maybe not betray, but they will not assist her."

"Why would you create a horcrux that wouldn't seek out its soul first? Why would it look for revenge?"

"I already told you that only my diary was meant to create a body. The others were only meant to bind my soul."

"Wait, so are you saying that ALL of your horcruxes have the ability to come to life? There's potentially many more of you running lose?"

Emily was a bit stumped here. In all honesty she didn't really know too much about them. She had specifically created her diary so that it could gain a body and magic easily and then find her wandering soul. Then all she would have to do would be to possess the body. Her journal was a one stop shop, after all. The leather cover was actually made from the skin of one of her followers though at the time she had called them 'friends'. The young Slytherin had pissed her off, so she hit him with a flaying curse. The never ending ink was the blood from Myrtle's corpse. She didn't have the bone of a relative, which was why she needed the life and magic of someone else as a substitute. She had simply taken the pages from her first journal and bound them into the new one. It was sloppy, but it would have been effective.

She had only figured out that the other horcruxes desired bodies when she began experimenting on her cup months before. "Yes, I suppose that's a possibility. But seeing as your headmaster has them all, I think we are in the clear."

"Still an unsettling thought, though. I'll pass along your message. Anything else?"

"No, you can scurry back into whatever hole you weasel's nest in."

"Bet Harry'd rather scurry back into my hole than yours."

BANG!

Ginny flew out of her chair, unconscious. The spell had been cast too close, even though she had been prepared for it, and she couldn't dodge.

"Fucking cunt, you deserved that." Emily called one of the Malfoy family house elves to see the indisposed girl back to Hogwarts.

A/N:Vacation time. Gonna try and knock this thing out.


	19. Chapter 19

A/N: So my nice long vacation for writing turned into a travelling vacation for family. Not quite what I had planned but it is what it is. This chapter is hardcore plot development. Like its only three scenes spread over a few weeks, but a lot is happening in the lull of time.

Chapter 19

Lord Voldemort hissed in pain. She gripped her pale, misshapen face with equally disfigured fingers. She had only just gained control of Bartemius. But the body wasn't exactly fit for possession. Too many years of the imperius curse had eroded his mind. She struggled to get used to her new vessel. Still, over time the body would adapt to her, who was now in control. Eventually she would reshape the body and mind in her own image.

Perhaps if the holder of the locket had been Lucius or Narcissa, but such thoughts were just idle wishing. Dwelling on the what ifs would not assist her. She need to focus on the here and now. She had a body and she was going to make use of it.

She had been made aware of her defeat years prior. What's more she knew that the only real threat to her was on death's door. Dumbledore would soon be a distant memory. Her previous downfall would not be repeated.

But the issue of Harry Potter irked her. How was it that a baby, barely a year old, had managed to kill her? None of her followers were aware, the few that were left. Voldemort had to admit she disliked the position she found herself in. She would have never thought that the pureblood campaign would have been pushed back so far.

She wasn't capable of using the dark mark yet, though she had tried. It was a two way connection between master and slave. Her death eaters could summon her and she could summon them through it, but the magic didn't recognize her in Bartemius' body. After all, she now had the mark on her own flesh. It was not removable. She couldn't use it to contact the others. A follower could not amass his brethren, such a thing could be used to betray her.

Her forces had dwindled to only two prominent families, the Malfoys and Lestranges. At least the Malfoys still were in good standing, the Lestranges, on the other hand, had a detain on sight order, including the use of deadly force should they resist. She tried to call upon the rest, but all other ways she had attempted to contact her other followers had failed. She could only assume they had abandoned their master. They would, of course, feel her retribution.

So for the time being she could only recover her personal strength and attune herself to this body. It would require several dark rituals, but within a fortnight, she would once again be the strongest person on the planet. Not as strong as she had once been and she would tire quickly, but she could only be patient for the rest of her recovery. Still, with even just a fraction of her magical power, with her knowledge and control of magic, she stood above everyone else.

She would kill Harry Potter and the world would realize that no one could stop her. Dumbledore was dying, so who else could they turn to? The minister? The man was incompetent. The aurors? Completely irrelevant. Don't even bring up the basic hit wizards, they were as useless as the common witch or wizard. She would become an unstoppable force.

She hobbled her way to a chair in the home of the Malfoys. Once again she attempted to access the thoughts and memories of her host, but the images and words did not come. How had Barty come across her horcrux? Her followers did not know, and she was incapable of Legilemency at the time. Barty's brain could barely keep up with her normal thoughts. He was ill equipped for any use of mental magic.

She could only wait until she reunited with her full soul. Then she wouldn't need to piggyback on the body of another. She could create a body of her own. Voldemort barely had a will of her own as a horcrux, and that will only extended to the desire for more. A craving for an existence greater than that of an object. So she latched onto the first body she felt that was open to her. As such, she could remember the growth of her existence.

Since her creation as the locket, she had just felt a desire for true life. She wanted to live, to breath, even to think. But as a horcrux she was denied all of these things. But as she started to seize control of Barty, she began to change. She started to think. She started to understand what it was she wanted. Once that had happened, she expanded her control over the man, crushing his existence with her own. Barty was dead in every sense of the word, except literal. He was the same as a person who had been kissed by a dementor. There was nothing left but the body, and even that was now hers.

Now she was a whole person, despite the fact that her body was half-formed. Of course, it was an incredible phenomenon. The fact that her new body was physically and mentally changing to suit her. Such a turn of events was unexpected and why she hid herself away in this dark room. Voldemort was vain, and her appearance disgusted even her.

"Soon," She whispered. "Soon, Harry Potter."

* * *

Harry sneezed violently. Emily who was next to him looked at him with a strange look. "Wipe your nose, love. You're not pristine right now."

"Oh, damn." He said, turning his face quickly. Despite the fact that he was going to be married to this woman, he still felt embarrassed about certain things. A bogie hanging from your nose was never something that boosted one's self esteem. It didn't help that Emily was never in such situations. She was always perfect in her appearance and actions, save when she was in the middle of losing her mind. Which actually happened rather often, he thought.

After ensuring his nose was clean, he looked back to Emily. She only smiled at him, and he couldn't help but smile in return. It had been a month since she had told him she needed a change of scenery. Harry wasn't stupid, he was well aware that this meant there was something going on in Malfoy Manor that she didn't want him involved in. He let it go, it didn't really bother him too much, because Emily stayed with him.

They had moved to a little town house in the middle of London. Harry had asked Emily for more information about it, but she didn't have much for him. She had purchased the random property through Gringotts and had it warded appropriately. Emily, in a rather strange change of pace, didn't spend any time with her followers while they were here. Of course there were Floo calls and the occasional visits, but such incidents were rare and at random. What's more, he hadn't seen any of the Malfoys or Lestranges, Of course, he chalked that up to them doing whatever Emily needed done back at the Manor.

Harry now had Emily's undivided attention, and she had his. This lead to a very large amount of debauchery and depravity in every single room in the home. It was in this past month that he felt the most normal he ever had. Which at first may seem strange, but was rather normal. For once, Harry was just Harry. He wasn't a student, he wasn't a hero, he wasn't a media scapegoat. It was just him and his fiance, in a home filled with their lewd behavior.

Emily spared no effort in various ways to tempt him, now that they were alone. She would often walk around without a stitch of clothing, going about her normal routine, until Harry either pounced on her or asked her to put on clothes. If it were the former, she gladly went along with him, but if it were the latter, she would shrug her shoulders and tell him she was more comfortable in the nude. This lead to a tense few minutes until Harry eventually went back to option one and Emily would, once again, go along with him.

When she did bother to wear clothes, it was never anything considered decent. It was all either black satin or blood red lace, and the pieces covered less skin on her that his briefs did on him. Harry was beginning to feel as though Emily was somehow confused, and under the impression that the honeymoon happened before the wedding.

Even now, both of them were completely naked on a small love seat. They had only just finished enjoying one another's bodies half an hour before, but Emily had already put her legs on his lap and was in the process of using her calves to get him worked up again. Harry, though still red from embarrassment, only lolled his head back at the sensations. This woman didn't even know how to touch in a way that was platonic.

"My Lord?"

"Shit!" Emily cursed loudly. "Stay there, I will be with you soon!"

He watched as she lifted her legs of his lap and place them onto the floor, reaching over to give his shaft a squeeze before getting up. As she walked to the fireplace, which she had set up a large partition in front of, to ensure their privacy, she conjured up a thin black robe to cover her body. It was then that Harry's brain began to fill in the blanks. The voice was Bellatrix.

Harry watched as Emily dipped behind the partition and he sprang up silently and quickly made his way to listen in on their conversation. Emily may have had him painfully aroused, but he wasn't going to let an erection stop him from prying into what her plans were.

"Yes, it has assumed control." He heard Bellatrix's voice first.

"Has it sensed anything amiss."

"No, my Lord, it is acting within your expectations. It is proceeding down the path you predicted."

"And its body?"

"Weak. I have yet to get a good look at her, she has shut herself away."

"It's probably doing it's best to gain power. We must provoke its ire before it gets to be a threat."

"What would you have me do?"

"Tell your sister to desert. If it feels as though some of you are leaving the cause, it will try and prove its strength. It has so few of you."

"I will inform her of your decision. I had nothing else to report. Do you have anything else for me?"

"No, good work. If there are any dynamic changes, inform me immediately."

"Yes, my Lord."

Harry heard the sound of movement and once again quickly, but silently, made his way back to the seat. When he threw himself onto the cushions, however, he saw Emily staring at him as she was walking away from the partition. Pursing his lips, knowing he'd been caught, he tried to play it off. Either she'd call him out on it, if she thought he heard something important, or she'd let it slide if she did not.

"Care to tell me what that was about?" She asked.

"Nothing."

She stared him down, hard. "Mhmm. I'm sure. What did you hear?"

"Nothing."

She didn't look away from him. "Don't lie to me, Harry. Let's be honest."

Harry let out a snort of laughter. "Oh, we're being honest? Sure, then, let's be honest. I heard everything. So who was it you were talking about?"

"A dark lord."

"Huh? Wait, wait, wait. Are you saying there's another dark lord?"

"Well, do you think I'd be talking about myself in the third person?"

"Er, well, I guess not. Are you trying to stop him?"

"Its actually another her, and to be completely honest, I plan on personally killing her, yes."

"Oh. So is like, dark lord a genderless title or something? Why not use the term lady?"

"The term come from the medieval muggle period. While the term lady did exist, it was primarily used to signify the wife or daughter of a lord instead of a woman with power. The magical community adopted the term to refer to one who leads. This was primarily used to describe pureblood family leaders. The term fell out of use when magical government came to power. They took much of the power the families had, though many held onto their titles out of delusions of grandeur. As if being a pureblood made anyone greater than any other magical person."

Harry hummed lightly. "Makes sense, I guess. I'm actually kinda glad. It'd be super weird to hear people call you mistress instead of master."

"Yes, the sexual connotations of the word are rather disgusting in the muggle world. Of course, its rare for a wizard to have a mistress. Fidelity is part of the standard marriage vows."

Harry decided to get the conversation back on track. "So how are we going to beat this new dark lord?"

He watched as Emily smiled directly at him and was immediately put on guard. "I'm glad you've already volunteered yourself to help, Harry."

"Er, well, I wouldn't let you fight her on your own."

"Of course you wouldn't. I actually have it on good authority that she will be aiming for you."

"What? But why would she have any interest in me?"

"Isn't it obvious? You're the savior of the magical world, Harry. Killing you would put this new dark lord in the lime light all over the nation. Of course this is the reason I have decided to personally intervene in the matter. I won't allow anyone to threaten you."

"So, what's your plan?"

Her smile dimmed. "I don't particularly like the idea of using you as bait. I don't consider myself a younger, prettier Dumbledore, after all. However, I figure we'll get you in a public place, I will be nearby naturally, and lure her there. Then you and I will, well, I suppose _I_ will just take care of things. She doesn't have the power I do. Honestly if you were to go one on one against her, you could probably handle her as well."

"And your followers? Did you tell them to spy on her for you?"

"Yes, they are my eyes and ears in her camp. I, of course, made use of my most loyal followers. My most trusted."

"Okay, when are we gonna do this?"

"As soon as my followers tell me she is ready to make a move. At present, she is conserving her strength, she is weak. Once she feels able to personally attempt to attack you, my followers will collude with me to bring her to us. So, for now, all we can do is wait."

"If she's weak, then why don't you just get your followers to kill her."

Harry notice the tell tale sign that she was about to lie to him when she pursed her lips just slightly before answering. "If I am to destroy her in a public place, defending you, it will raise my personal standing in society. Making it easier to accomplish our goals."

In most circumstances he'd have called her out on it, but he was prevented by another one of her tells. Normally when she finished lying to him, she'd either lock her eyes onto his intensely or she'd non nonchalantly look anywhere but his eyes. The former meant she didn't want him to pry, while the latter meant she was actively trying to hide something from him. Neither of these were present, meaning that she was telling the truth. Just not the entire truth.

"So you save me, then marry me a couple months later, huh? You've got it all planned out pretty well."

"Of course. And everything will go off without a hitch."

* * *

 _Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Passes in Sleep_

Lord Voldemort smiled at the paper. The old man was finally gone. Leaning back into the comfortable chair she was seated in, she threw the paper into the fireplace. With one hand she lit the grate, as well as the paper, ablaze. The other gently trailed down the smooth skin of her face. It had taken three weeks for her body to settle its form. It would take even longer before she regained enough power to take this world by force. She would either need to find her soul and join together with it, or resort to some rather terrible dark magic. Of course, she was not one to shy away from dark magic, but to make her soul fragment stable she'd have to resort to dealing with dementors. Dementors only respected strength, and she no longer wielded the power she once did. Dealing with them could prove fatal in her current condition.

Her next problem was her lack of forces. She needed to make a show of some kind of power and draw more people to her, or else she wouldn't be able to move forward. She had her sparse few follower's ears to the ground, but their was no mention of anything relating to her soul wandering about. Of course, there were several things that could entrap a wraith, so it was possible that her soul was in captivity.

So with so few options ahead of her, she had decided it was time to end Harry Potter. It would give the illusion that she was still incredibly powerful and the feeble minds of the magical world would flock to her. Once her numbers swelled, she could be more proactive in her search for soul. Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Enter."

Voldemort turned her head to see Bellatrix entering the room. "The plan has been put into motion, my Lord. Harry Potter will be in Hogsmeades in two weeks time. There we shall kidnap several of the students and he will not hesitate to come and save them. Then you will be able to defeat him."

Voldemort liked what she heard from the woman, but something was eerily off about the conversation. Instead of dismissing the woman, Voldemort studied her intently. It finally clicked. Bella had yet to meet her gaze. Voldemort was more than well aware of her death eaters feelings towards her. Bellatrix had made several attempts over the years to entice her into bed, and yet now, she wouldn't even look at her.

At first, Voldemort thought it was her face that had been disfigured for so long that was the deterrent. This thought was quickly discarded when Voldemort asked Bella to look her in the face and the woman did for only a brief moment before looking down again. With her face reflecting her natural beauty now, she had no reason to avert her gaze.

"I did not tell you to look away from me, Bella."

Once again the woman locked her eyes onto her master's face. Voldemort, for the nth time wished that Bartemius' mind had been in better condition. She was still not able to use the full force of legilimency, though she could dabble in it. Enough to parse lies from truth.

"Why do you hesitate to look at me?"

"I am not worthy, master."

A simple answer. It stroked her ego and had she not been on the look out for deception, it would have been easy to let the falsehood slip past. Not today, however.

"Do not lie to Lord Voldemort. She always knows."

Speaking of herself in third person always made her feel foolish, but it also reinforced the idea that she was a greater existence than her follower's.

"It is true my lord, I am not worthy." The same sentence but now it rang with truth. She was hiding something from her, regardless however, and Voldemort would get to the bottom of it.

"What secrets are you keeping from me, Bellatrix? Do you serve another? Or am I the only one who is worthy to be your master?"

She meant the questions to be rhetorical. But when Bellatrix failed to immediately prostrate herself in front of the accusationts as she would have done so in the past, made a cold knot form in the center of her chest. If Bellatrix, her most loyal follower could stray, then what did that mean for the others. For the self serving Malfoys? Narcissa had already left, would Lucius soon follow?

Voldemort rose from her chair, and walked towards the woman. She wrapped her arms around her follower and brought her into a gentle embrace. Slowly patting the woman's head, she began to whisper softly to her.

"Dearest Bella, why must you hide things from me? Have I not shown you that you are my most cherished, my most loyal?"

The woman in her arms murmured her consent.

"Then tell me what secrets you are keeping from me." The woman in her arms went still. "Tell me, and I will reward you. I always reward those who please me, do I not. And rewarding you will be so simple, won't it. Tell me what I wish to know and I will give you all that you have ever wanted."

Bellatrix gently pulled away from her master, and looked at her in confusion, and a small touch of something else. "My Lord-"

Voldemort cut off the woman's protests with her finger. Bellatrix would always be so easy to bend to her will. After all, the one thing that Bellatrix desired more than anything else was something that Voldemort could easily give her.

"You can tell me all you know in the morning." And in the next morning, once Bellatrix awoke in the arms of her Lord, she told her everything.


	20. Chapter 20

A/N: Much beefier chapter.

Chapter 20

"And then she plans on killing you."

Voldemort had listened intently to everything Bellatrix had told her. The story was long, spanning years, and it was made even longer by her when she asked for more details about certain events.

"Its a good plan." Voldemort couldn't deny the plan's brilliance. Publicly destroy the Dark Lord and become a hero. Marry Harry Potter, easily the most famous person in magical Britain. Then use that fame to gather massive public approval and cruise on into the office of Minister. In truth, the plan was downright brilliant, save for one flaw. The pawn was no longer a pawn.

In fact the pawn had made it to the end of the board and was now a queen. And sacrifice was not on her agenda. The obsession with her original self had with Harry Potter puzzled her the most. While she was not beneath using any means to get what she wanted, she would not be willing to compromise to such an extent. Marriage was too much of a concession. It inferred that Harry Potter was her equal. Certain vows were involved and Voldemort could not see herself making them to anyone. Sleeping with Bellatrix was one thing, but she wouldn't marry the witch.

The brief thought of love passed through her mind before she banished it. A side effect of splitting ones soul over and over was the loss of that ability. But as she repeatedly failed over and over to find a different solution, her mind kept returning to what ifs. Finally, an answer that made sense, came to mind.

"Mr. Potter, wouldn't happen to have any, curious markings on his face, would he?"

"Yes, he has a lightning shaped scar on his forehead."

Now things were painting a clearer picture. If she had cast the killing curse on Harry as a baby, she would have aimed it at his face. Odds are that Harry Potter was a horcrux. If that were the case, then it was more than possible that she may have formed a soul bond with him. Such an event would explain the plan fairly well. So, in order to regain her original self and not die, all she had to do... was kill Harry Potter.

In the end, her plan didn't change, but the reasons behind it changed rather dynamically. Originally she meant to kill Harry Potter in order to recruit people to look for her wraith. Now she needed to kill the boy to break the connection between them. To end the control he had over her soul.

So she would play along, allow herself to fall into the trap that her true self had created. Once the trap was sprung, she would pull out her ace. In the end, all she had to do was get to the boy alone. While she knew she couldn't defeat herself, what could a child hope to accomplish against her?

Harry nervously made his way down the steps of Hogwarts. Everything had begun rather suddenly. He was jostled awake by Emily this morning, her telling him to get dressed quickly. At first he thought something had gone wrong, but when she handed him his old Hogwarts robes, he could only look at her stupidly.

"Its time for the trap, put those on."

"Now? We haven't even gone over anything yet. What's the plan? Don't just spring this on me."

She gave him an exasperated look before stopping her shuffling about the home, and coming to sit on the bed where he was laying. "Relax Harry. My followers and I decided on this time a few weeks ago. Its the last Hogsmeade trip of the year for the students. A perfect time for a dark lord to strike a poor hapless student. She is under the impression you've been at Hogwarts this entire time, so she thinks this will be the last chance she has to strike you down. She's been apprised of the protections your muggle home has on it."

"So she thinks this is her only shot to do it? She can't wait?"

"No, she's impatient to amass her followers. She'd rather finish you off in the here and now, so she can move forward, waiting is not an option."

"Why not give me any forewarning?"

"I didn't want you stressing over it. You'll be there, she'll arrive, my followers will ensure all routes of escape are blocked, and I will show up to destroy her and her ambitions. You just hunker down, find some cover and watch my back. If, and only if, it looks like I am at a severe disadvantage, may you make a move to assist me. I don't want you taking unnecessary risks with your life. Are we clear? She may only be a remnant of my real power, but she is still a force to be reckoned with."

"I got it, relax. I'll prioritize my safety as long as you are safe too."

Such a morning now lead to him sneaking in with the rest of the students for the Hogmeades trip. A simple notice-me-not charm kept even the students from looking too hard at him, though a strange blonde Ravenclaw stared at him profusely. It made him worried that she seem to notice him all the more, but she never made a move to speak with him or announce his presence. Once he made it to Filch, who was checking the students, a quick confundus charm had him passing through that barrier as well. It was practically a perfect replica of the spellcast done by Emily when they checked in a muggle hotel in France. He patted himself on the back for it.

He was tempted to sit in a carriage with his friends, but was rather certain that his spell wouldn't hold up in such tight quarters. Should he be revealed now, they would only wish to spend time with him, and probably get dragged into the eventual fight. Emily had assured him several times this morning that the only person they'd have to worry about would be the dark lord herself. Only Emily's followers would be accompanying the woman. Harry could only hope his fiance was right.

Once he stepped foot into Hogsmeade he was on alert. She was already here, or at least, Emily's followers were. He saw an elderly man sitting on a bench rather innocuously, but the man had his legs crossed and one leg was bouncing them both up and down. While this would have told most people nothing, Harry had seen Rabastan Lestrange in this exact posture several times at the Malfoy manor. An elderly woman was leaned against a building smoking an ivory pipe that was puffing out blue smoke and had a scent of sassafras. He had seen Rabastan's brother, Bellatrix's husband, Rodolphus smoking the exact same thing out of the exact same ivory pipe outside in the Malfoy gardens. He had seem him attempt to light the pipe in the home before Narcissa descended on the poor man like a banshee, hexing him as she ordered two house elves to chase him out of the home. He didn't see anyone of the Malfoy's or Bellatrix, but assumed they were simply better at hiding their presence.

Emily had told him to wander about in public for an hour or so before making his way to a secluded area. Hogsmeade visits lasted about six total hours, and while Emily told him the dark lord would wait for an opportunity, he would have to give her one sooner rather than later, or she'd try to make one herself. It would be odd for him to immediately walk away from the crowd of students after all, and Emily didn't want this new dark lord to be on guard.

Harry kept himself calm, as he walked, but never faltered in his vigilance. Even when browsing Honeydukes, he kept body poised, ready to make a burst of movement. Everything was going fine, though he still noticed the two Lestrange brothers always remaining close to him. Once he caught a flash of platinum blonde hair out of the corner of his eye, but when he whipped his head around he didn't see a trace of it or any Malfoy it may have belonged to.

Eventually he began making his way towards the area in between the Hog's Head and the Shrieking Shack. The Hog's Head always had a handful of patrons, as well as Albus Dumbledore's brother, Aberforth, inside of it. Harry had been shocked when Emily told him that his headmaster even had a brother. While she told him the old man had nothing on his elder brother, he was still a crafty wizard. So Harry wandered farther away from there than the Shack, but stayed far enough away from the Shack so that any curious third years who went to look at it wouldn't be drawn towards the sounds of fighting.

Harry was just starting to wonder if the new dark lord had chickened out before the old woman that he knew to be Rodolphus came out of an alleyway ahead of him. Though Harry knew the man to be on his side, he still didn't like the feeling of being cornered. He nonchalantly looked behind him and saw Rabastan swiftly closing the distance from the rear. His nerves suddenly exploded when a third figure, in a dark hooded cloak, gracefully made its way towards him out of the final alleyway, sealing off his last road of departure.

He would have remained calm and collected, but something just wasn't right. He recognized this person, the way she walked and her stride. He recognized the way she lifted her arms up to pull the hood from over her head, and he most definitely recognized the face.

"Hello, Harry Potter."

Harry looked straight into the eyes of his fiance, Emily Riddle.

"Shocked to see me? Expected someone else, I dare say?"

"Emily, what's this about?"

"Murder, of course. You need to die, Harry Potter." Harry had to dive quickly when she shot a sickly yellow spell at him. Harry was so confused, but he decided to roll with the punches. He had dueled Emily countless times and it was clear she didn't intend to kill him. If she did have that intent, her curse would have been bright green.

As they dueled, details started to trickle into his brain. Emily was as fast as always but her spells were far fewer than normal. Normally he was forced to weave in an out of her rapid fire spells, getting to the point where he knew which ones he could take a hit from to return fire. Right now, however, she fired a spell every few seconds, while closing the distance. All the spells were fairly lethal or debilitating, but she cast them so slowly he avoided all of them. Everything he sent her way was flicked away. She almost tripped him up at about eight meters from him. She switched from curses and hexes to transfiguration. Her go to spell for restraining someone by surprise came out of no where and the cobble work stone below him ripped upward and tried to enclose him. Emily had personally taught him this transfiguration spell and how to halt it, and he managed to do so quickly enough to dodge her first killing curse of the duel, which was aimed at his head.

Now he knew things had gotten serious, but even so, more details kept coming in. Not only was she slow, she was getting closer to make it hard for him to dodge. Emily would never normally do this to him, because once she got within five meters she knew he would charge her. And Emily never let things get to physical blows between them, she was terrified of hitting him. The only time Emily ever admitted defeat during their duels was when he managed to close the distance and grab her wand. So he couldn't understand what she was doing here. Maybe she was hoping for him to get close so she could take a swing at him. With her strength, she'd probably cleanly knock his head off.

Once she made it to the five meter distance, something fell into place. This was not Emily, but at the same time, it most definitely was. She certainly looked like Emily but things were different. She looked a bit older. But the real kicker was the expression on her face. The absolute hatred. This could not be Emily. Emily could not make that face at him. Even if she was certain that he had to die, she would not be able to look at him with such loathing. He was so certain of this that he did the one thing that would ensure his loss if he were wrong.

Crouching under her next spell, Harry pushed off of the balls of his feet with all the strength he could muster with his legs. Sure enough the distance was closed in under a second. His hand swallowed her wrist within a fist and the other hand was in the same shape as the first. This one, however was cocked back behind his head with all the force he could pack behind it.

"Sorry love." And for the first time in months, Harry plowed his fist right into his supposed fiance's face. However instead of his fist smashing into her nose and bouncing off, this time it sunk in with a satisfying crunch. What's more, it didn't feel as though he had socked a cement wall. This, he was now certain, was not Emily Riddle. Though he wondered if she knew.

Turning around to find and ask one of the Lestrange brother's what exactly was going on, Harry was shocked to find the both of them stunned on the ground. It had been one of their job's, he wasn't certain which, to summon Emily with the Dark Mark. Once that was done, they were going to place to jinxes up to interfere with apparition and portkeys. If they were down for the count then that meant Emily wasn't coming. His first thought was to apparate out, but he found to his dismay that the jinxes were in place to prevent that. He wondered for a brief moment who put them up before turning around and finding the answer just a few feet away from him.

"Depulso!" The banishment charm slammed into his sternum, winding him and throwing him ten meters away down the cobblestone path. He felt his face slam into the stone twice, breaking his jaw and two teeth. He rolled to a stop and felt pain radiating from ever part of his body, but he could remain lying down. He spat out blood before painfully clambering back to his feet.

Bellatrix stood in front of the faux Emily Riddle and Harry was at a loss for words. Had Bellatrix somehow been tricked? Or was it that the Emily Riddle he had known all this time was the fake? So many questions popped into his head, along with the headache from the concussion he was certain he earned from the street. He found it hard to focus through it, but he had suffered severe head pains all of his life thanks to Emily's horcrux in his head, so he pushed past it.

Bellatrix kept her eyes on him as she tended to the fallen dark lord. Harry used this time to mend as much of his face as he could. A few missing teeth weren't a problem, but a broken jaw would cut his spell casting down severely. While Emily had ensured he wasn't useless at nonverbal magic, he was definitely not able to fight off a dark lord without making use of everything he had. Healing cracked teeth were not within his ability and he had to resort to prying them out with magic. He had just enough time to stop most of the bleeding when Bellatrix stood along with Emily.

"Impressive display Mr. Potter. You took me by surprise."

"Just who exactly are you?"

"Oh, come now, don't tell me you have forgotten the face of your fiance. The love of your life."

"I haven't, and honestly everything about you screams Emily Riddle. But there's no way you can be her. Emily could never desire to kill me like you do."

"Maybe she wants you dead. Maybe she's tired of being enslaved by that damned thing in your skull. And maybe today is where she's going to make the last of her problems disappear."

"Yeah, you might've had a point there. Just one problem. If Emily was tired of our connection then she wouldn't have let me fix it when it died two months ago. You look like her and you act like her. Everything about you is Emily Riddle down to the letter, but in the end, you _are not_ her. So who are you?"

The woman in front of him sighed deeply before looking to Bellatrix. "I am tired, Bella. Kill him so we may leave in peace."

Bellatrix's mouth fell agape. "My Lord, please, I can not... I can not harm Harry Potter. You will be even more furious with me, if I were to-"

"Kill him now. I promise you, once his hold over me has vanished, you will have nothing to fear. Trust in me, Bellatrix. Once I am reunited with my other self, you will have everything you desire."

Bellatrix looked at Harry, and then, back at her lord. Harry watched her internally for a few moments, before she swallowed and wiped all indecision from her face. She didn't waste time.

"Avada Kedavra!" Bellatrix was no person Harry wanted to fight. He had been under her tutelage for healing, and he had seen her depth of understanding of magic first hand. She was not as powerful as Emily, but Harry was certain she could give Professor McGonagall or Flitwick a run for their galleons. Harry quickly went to survival mode diving to the side, then scrambling to the small cobblestone towers Emily had tried to encase him in. Knowing that he was now officially out of his depth, Harry found that small connection inside his head and shoved panic and fear through it as hard as he could.

With the jinxes in place Emily wouldn't be here immediately, but he figured if he could hold out for three minutes, he would be fine. Unfortunately he didn't even have that time as a wave of magic swept through the stones shielding his body and they collapsed backwards on top of him. Thankfully their size and amount were quite few, but several ribs were snapped and he couldn't move. Bellatrix's face arrived in his field of vision.

"I'm sorry for this Harry. But she has promised me everything I have ev-"

"Depulso!"

This time Harry was not the recipient of the magic, and Bellatrix was the one flying through the air. Unfortunately for him, the woman had managed to throw up a weak shield charm that took the brunt of the blow before dissipating. He couldn't see where she landed, as he was still pinned down, but he didn't hear the sound of bone slapping against stone, so he knew she fared better than he had.

"Harry, love, are you alright?"

Emily face came into view. The right one, this time. Her worried eyes met his and gave her a smile that he knew had to look abhorrent thank to his missing teeth and bloodied mouth. He had no clue how she had gotten here so fast, but he was happy all the same.

"Could be better, if you had been on time. What took you so long?" He had meant it in a joking manner, not as an actual question, but she answered him as though he had been serious.

"I was betrayed." She sneered, and Harry saw a very similar look of hatred flash into her face, as he had seen in the fake Emily's face when they had been dueling. "Worry not, I'll handle everything. Stay here." Emily got up and walked away from him, but a moment after, he felt the stones shift and the weight atop him lift upwards. He tilted his head to see the stones fuse together and take the form of a rather ugly gargoyle. The stone statue was solidly in front of him and did not move, though Harry doubted that it would remain stationary if something threatened him, He tilted his head back to the floor and could see several residents of the village peering into the alleyways. Emily had brought the witnesses she needed. At least her plan wouldn't fail.

"Voldemort, I will strike you down now. You will never lay a hand on Harry Potter again." Emily's voice sounded so melodramatic in his ears, but then again he was also aware of the charade. He was certain that everyone else was in awe of what was happening before them. To them, they saw a teenaged girl standing up to the most feared dark lord that ever existed.

Harry didn't hear any spells being spoken, but he did notice intensive light going on in the direction that Emily had walked into. He resigned himself to only having a vague idea of what the fight happening away from him truly was going to be.

* * *

Emily cursed to herself as she acted the hero facing off against the villain. She had never expected Bellatrix of all people to betray her. "Voldemort, I will strike you down now. You will never lay a hand on Harry Potter again." Thankfully, Lucius had noticed something amiss and had scurried off to get her when things started going awry.

She watched as her horcrux smirked at her before they began fighting. All their spells were nonverbal, and they were all fantastic bits of magic. Perfect. This was what she wanted. To be seen as incredibly powerful, able to take out the most feared dark lord that ever existed. Finally, it seemed her horcrux had gotten with the program. Soon enough the weak version of herself would exhaust its magic and Emily would kill it and bring everything full circle. Emily relaxed into the duel expecting things to go according to plan, so of course, this was when the final trap was sprung.

"NOW BELLA!"

Emily had completely disregarded Bellatrix. She had assumed that when she arrived the woman would bow down before her as she normally did. But the woman apparently wanted to make her betrayal as blatant as possible. She saw all three Lestranges up, clearly the two brother's were now under Bella's imperius curse. The three scattered in different directions briefly before all three made a beeline for Harry. Of course, Emily thought, she wasn't the target. It had always been Harry.

"Stupefy, Incarcerus, Levicorpus." Emily pushed her mouth and hand to the limit, getting all three spells off accurately in less than five seconds. Nonverbal magic would have been too slow. This feat still was something anyone would have claimed impossible. But she accomplished the impossible for breakfast, this was simple. Luck however, chose not to favor her, for while her spells were on the mark, Bellatrix was not under the imperius and rolled sloppily on the stone street, dodging her dangling jinx. The next thing Emily knew were dark purple chains lashing themselves on her limbs and body, binding her in place. Voldemort used her moment of inattention to counter her, using the exact same spell she had used on Lucius Malfoy just after she returned to a body. When Bellatrix made it to Harry Potter, the stone gargoyle she had crafted suddenly lunged at the woman, knocking her down. It then slammed its great stone fist into the woman's chest and Bellatrix couldn't even scream as her sternum, ribs, spine, heart and lungs were crushed from the impact.

Harry, however, was now exposed to Voldemort's line of sight, and Emily was still tied up. She ripped at her bindings with raw magic, and was tearing through them fast, but she wasn't fast enough.

"Avada Kedavra!"

"Avada Kedavra!"

Two flashes of green light met just off the ground, two feet from Harry Potter before bounding off in different directions, creating jagged grooves in the street. "Speak of the God damned devil." Emily murmured.

Solid black walking stick in one hand, ornament adorned wand in the other, Lucius Malfoy calmly walked in front of Harry Potter. The man stood tall with his chin held high. "I'll not allow you to harm my son's friend, Voldemort. You've taken enough from my family."

Emily laughed as she swept the last of the chains binding her away. Of course Lucius wouldn't miss the chance to show off the dignity and power of the Malfoy family at a time like this. Though the man was looking after his own interest, he clearly stood with her and she was overjoyed about it. Harry had another safety net with him now. She was back in control.

Emily slowly walked towards her older self. The woman was barely standing, she had cast too much magic and was completely drained to fight. Emily lifted her wand, "You did well, but you're still only a fraction of me. You had no hope of winning."

Voldemort looked at Emily and smiled wickedly. "Ah, but that's where you and I differ isn't it? You value yourself so highly that you don't trust others. I, on the other hand, know my shortcomings, and I trust those loyal to me to be there when I need them."

Emily stared curiously at Voldemort before she heard Lucius shout. "Look out!"

Knowing that he was guarding Harry and could only be talking to her, she quickly turned around with her wand in front of her. Only to see a black shape slip past her other side. Turning about again, she saw Bellatrix's mangled body holding onto the weak form of her older self.

"Unicorn blood. Quite effective, is it not? Her love for me was strong enough for her to take on its curse to keep me safe. Who do you trust enough that will do that?" Voldemort's cutting remarks did not stop.

"Avada Kedavra." The killing curse sped toward them, but Bellatrix had already turned and with a pop the two vanished. It seemed like only a few moments had passed when the crowd rushed into the little intersection. Emily was on guard quickly, but noticed that Lucius remained at Harry's side. He would keep the boy safe, Harry Potter was as good a meal ticket to the Malfoy's as he was to her. She also noticed that the youngest Weasleys, Ginny and Ron, as well as Hermione Granger were already making their way to him.

It was only a minute after than the magical law enforcement showed up, three aurors in tow. They immediately began asking question's and many people in the crowd gestured to her and Harry. A single auror made his way to Harry, while the other two approached her.

"Hello miss, can you please tell me what happened here. What the crowd's been telling me has been rather hard to swallow."

Emily smiled sweetly at the man, taking note of his partner. The girl looked oddly familiar, but the vibrant pink hair was ridiculous. "It was a rather simple altercation sir. My boyfriend and I were separated in Hogsmeades. Lord Voldemort and her followers showed up and tried to kill him. I managed to get here just in the nick of time to help him get out of it. Almost had her too, she only barely managed to get away."

The large man stared at her. In his deep baritone, he asked, "So you mean to tell me, that a teenager such as yourself, managed to fend off You-Know-Who and her followers."

"See for yourself," Emily lead the man to her two restrained Death Eaters. The auror's eyes rounded when he looked at their faces, and he pulled a strange metallic device from his robes and held it to his face.

"This is Shacklebolt. We've had a death eater attack in Hogsmeades. The Lestrange brother's are in custody." He stayed silent for a moment. "No, we did not apprehend the suspects, Harry Potter and his girlfriend did." He was silent for a moment, before jerking his head away from the device as though someone was yelling at him. "I don't care what the Prophet's gossip columns will do with this, that's what happened." He stuffed the item back into his robes.

"Sorry about that. I am going to have to question you to know some more information about you, and what exactly happened here today."

Emily was patient with the question's. Harry had already been briefed that he was here with his girlfriend, and nothing more. He wouldn't give any major details to the aurors, which would allow her to embellish what she needed to. Within the confines of reason, of course.

At the end of his questions he asked her, "You are aware, Miss, that the use of the killing curse against another human being is grounds for a life sentence in Azkaban, correct?"

"Of course, but I clearly used the curse in self defense. Look at my boyfriend, that bitch broke his jaw and knocked out some of his teeth."

Kingsley Shacklebolt did glance at the young man in question, but with the crowd still in the square, he couldn't see the boy on the ground. He ground his teeth, before taking a deep breath.

"Everyone, please leave the area. This is now a crime scene. If anyone has a witness statement they wish to give to the MLE, please line up in an orderly fashion next to the wall of the inn." His loud, deep voice rolled over everyone. It took about a minute for the street to clear, though there were still quite a few people surrounding Harry and even more people were lined up at the wall, all chomping at the bit to tell the MLE what incredible pieces of magic they had just witnessed. Emily made her way to the huddle of people around her fiance, squeezing through them, until she arrived at his side. And she did not like what she saw.

Ronald Weasley was the first to really notice her. Not just her as a person, but who she really was, she could tell by his sharp intake of breath and how he not so gently nudged Hermione Granger in the side while nodding his head in her direction.

Bless the muggleborn witch, she always did her best to be civil. "Emily." She said with a nod to her. Emily nodded back. It wasn't until Hermione spoke her name that Ginny Weasley took note of her presence. The girl had the gall to have Harry's head on her thighs and was stroking his hair gently. Harry could only grimace at Emily's displeasure.

"I told her not to do it, but she said it would piss you off. And that pissing you off was one of the few joys she had in life."

"So you just allowed her to do it?"

"Emily, I have, like, six broken ribs right now. I'm not gonna fight her off. Just... let it go this once."

"I'll let it go when she physically lets go. _Episky_."

Harry grunted when his bones snapped painfully back into place and fused together. He groaned pitifully. "You did that on purpose. I've seen you heal bones a helluva lot more gentle than that."

"I'm a jealous woman, so what if I do some things out of spite." She looked to the smirking Ginny Weasley, "He is no longer in need of your body, skank, feel free to fuck off."

"I don't know. Maybe he wants a woman nearby who won't hurt him out of spite. Maybe you should be the one leaving."

"Ginny, I really don't think you need to b-"

"Shut up, Ron."

"Okay, fine, none of my business."

Emily got down on her knees, taking a similar position to Ginny. "As is just so happens Ms. Weasely, I have a favor to ask of you. I've only very recently lost a dear friend of mine, and I am now without a maid of honor." She smirked at the ginger girl. "Would you care to be there for me when Harry and I get married in a couple months." She wasn't quiet when she said this and could here the gasps of people who over heard what she said. She honestly wasn't sure what would be on the front page of the prophet tomorrow, Harry Potter's wedding announcement or her trouncing of Lord Voldemort.

"I'd rather fuck Draco's father than be your maid of honor."

A snide voice spoke up, "I'm sorry, Ms. Weasley, but I am happily married and have no interest in blood traitors."

Ginny's face colored in embarrassment. Clearly she had forgotten the man was here. She personally blamed the man for the diary incident in her first year and had a deep loathing for him, so her comment was not really a proposition. Though, to be honest, Emily figured the girl might actually rather sleep with the elder Malfoy than be her maid of honor. Still, Lucius once again assisted her, this time making Ginny Weasley a laughing stock and to the casual onlooker, a bit of a harlot.

"The only thing I'd do to or with your wand, Malfoy, is snap it." She gently laid Harry's head down, before quickly dipping her head to kiss him on the forehead. The young girl was already ten meters away before Emily's stinging hex brushed by her backside. The girl ran off with a zigzag and Emily missed. Frowning, she looked at Harry.

"I hate her."

"I'm aware."

"One of these days I am going to beat the hell out of her."

"Oy, that's my sister."

She turned her eyes coldly to Ron. "She ignored your warning, so she deserves it. I won't kill her, regardless."

"So long as you put her back to rights, whatever." She wondered if that meant she had his tacit approval to teach his younger sister some manners or whether he was just resigned to the two of them eventually duking it out. She shelved the thoughts for later. Turning to Harry, she wrapped her arms underneath his body and lifted him up. His face flared with a rare blush and he whispered to her.

"Emily, for the love of God, do not carry me, bridal style, out of here."

"Why not? You're injured and I'm more than strong enough."

"Its emasculating, just, let me walk, okay?"

She giggled at him, but she did set him down. She still wrapped one of his arms over her head and supported most of his weight though. "Lucius." The man turned to look at her, questioningly.

"We are departing. Make certain everything is in order here."

"Of course. You and Mr. Potter have a pleasant evening. My son sends his regards Mr. Potter, do pay us a visit over the summer." The man was plenty vocal about his offer of allowing Harry to visit him over the summer break. Always trying to polish his family's image. Smarmy bastard. As if they weren't going to be in and out of the Manor constantly over the next couple of months. Emily planned on using the Malfoy grounds for their wedding. One of the few venues large enough to hold that many people. She knew Lucius already had mocked up an announcement for the Daily Prophet where Harry had personally asked the Malfoy patriarch to help him with the wedding plans. To be fair, Lucius had done more of the planning than Harry. Emily had tried to keep Harry out of it, as she knew he hated when his name was thrown around, and that was pretty much all she planned on doing with the entire event.

Making certain that Harry was standing stably at her side, she looked into his eyes. "You were amazing today, love. I'm proud of you." With a twist the two of them vanished.


	21. Chapter 21

A/N: Busted my knee up on Saturday, so I took the day off to rest it (bearing weight on it hurts and my job has me running up and down stairs for hours) so I had loads of time to write. Here you go.

Chapter 21

Lord Voldemort Attacks Hogsmeade, Faces Crushing Defeat

The Daily Prophet went above and beyond in releasing the press of the incident, going as far as to release an evening paper, which brought Emily's name into the limelight. Of course, people quickly traced her name back to the Emily Riddle from her Hogwarts days. As such, it was passed off that she was the granddaughter of that Emily. There was no need to impress upon the pureblood masses that she was the descendant of Salazar Slytherin anymore. With her marriage to Harry Potter on the horizon, her lineage would be dirtied thanks to his mother's blood regardless.

The Daily Prophet's entire paper was fill with the events of the attack on Hogmeades, including various interviews with eyewitnesses of the scene. Of course, the most prominent witness was a member of one of the most well known pureblood families in the nation, so naturally Lucius Malfoy also was on the front page. The picture plastered on the paper was a wide image capturing Emily Riddle standing off in the distance, while Harry Potter and Lucius Malfoy at the other end. Harry's injuries were quite visible as was Mr. Malfoy's protective posture over him. Lucius has personally sent this image to the Prophet, no one was certain as to who he had nearby to take the shot.

After the first three pages, which were entirely dominate by Lucius Malfoy's interview, the rest of the paper held smaller interviews with other witnesses of the event. Seeing as it was the Malfoy family's personal funds being used to distribute the paper that evening, it was only expected.

The Prophet's morning paper the very next day hit just as hard with jarring headlines:

Harry Potter Engaged to Public Heroine, Emily Riddle

Of course, with Dumbledore officially gone, the cat was now out of the bag. While it had been no secret that Harry Potter was not at Hogwarts this year, the news had not been widely spread. Dumbledore had done his best to keep such information as hush hush as possible. This story was much more subtle, more of a gossip column than anything else. Without a direct quote from Harry Potter, and only hearsay on Emily Riddle's statement, nothing was actually confirmed. That is, until the readers made it to page two.

Once again, Lucius Malfoy intervened with the public media. This time however, he made certain his story was not on the first page. He knew that his position in society, while stable, was constantly under scrutiny. It would take time for his actions during the fight at Hogsmeades to permeate the community and begin to change minds. So, do avoid people immediately dismissing the paper as hogwash, he pursuaded the editor's to keep his interview brief, abstract, but completely factual.

He simply stated that the rumors were indeed true, and that the wedding would even be taking place at his home. He had known Emily's mother and grandmother, and while both were deceased now, he still kept close contact with the young woman. Seeing as Draco was also, as he would have the public believe anyway, good friends with Harry Potter, he spoke on Harry's behalf as well. He ended the interview by stating the wedding would take place on July thirty-first, and that of course, invitations would be sent out well in advance.

"Well done, Lucius."

"Thank you, my lord."

Emily smiled at the man. "Self serving as you may be, at least you know who to attach your name to. I daresay within a month you will be known more for you heroics than your misdeeds."

"With a prominent, pureblood family at the side of the new Potter family, it will only increase our gains in regards to public approval. Though Crouch managed to get away, once you do kill him your name will grow in prominence. I daresay this is probably the best outcome for our goals. Now that the public has seen a figure that can defeat Voldemort, they will cling to you as they did to Dumbledore when he defeated Grindlewald. You will only grow more popular from here, and once you actually kill the supposed dark lord, you will probably have more public favor than the minister himself."

"Of course, I will still have to establish a good relationship with the various offices in the Ministry, before I abolish them anyway. I will also need to start going out in public, I'll have Mr. Potter take me on a date later. We'll most certainly be harassed, but I'll handle things before Harry gets overwhelmed."

Silence reigned for quite the brief moment before Lucius asked the one question he had been far too fearful to ask in the past. One that he honestly wasn't certain that he wished to know the answer to.

"My lord, I am aware that it is not my place to pry, but I am rather curious about something."

Emily waited a moment, but it seemed as though he wanted her to acknowledge his statement.

"I am satisfied with your service recently Lucius, I am willing to answer your questions as well as I can, should they not be too impertinent."

"That's rather why I am nervous about asking, my lord, but what precisely are your plans for Harry Potter? To what end do they extend, and, if I may be so bold, what do you feel for him?"

Emily pursed her lips. He was right when he said he was prying. Still, she needed to address this, she could no longer leave it unconfirmed.

"I plan for Mr. Potter to live a long, prosperous life, fufilling his duties as my husband and generally enjoying life. I wish for him to remain out of politics, as that is the domain I wish to be alone in, so I will push him to other career paths. He is not well suited to the life of a politician. Professional Quidditch, I feel may be a good decision, as long as the separation does not keep us apart. He is an outstanding talent on a broom. As for my feelings for him, Lucius, I will be clear on this."

She looked the blonde man straight in the eye. "Harry Potter is the love of my life. Remaining in his good graces ensures you remain in mine. I am certain you have expected this, given as to how apparent your kindness and generosity to him has been, though I am not sure if you've just been attempting to curry favor with him for your own gain. Still you put your foot forward further than any of my other followers did as far as Harry is concerned, and I took note of that. Everyone else has treated him with indifference, even uncertainty, and I can't really blame them. He was the cause of our downfall years ago."

Turning her gaze elsewhere, she tapered off, not very certain how to continue with the conversation and things stayed silent for a brief few moments before Lucius once again tested the waters.

"In regards to my sister-in-law, what will you do with her, once things have settled? Narcissa is fretting greatly about it."

Her eyes flashed back to him, but now they were burning red. "I will remain consistent with the punishments I levy out to those who betray me."

Lucius was cowardly by nature, but the one thing the man stood up for was his family. This included his wife's beloved, but very deluded sister. "My lord, I beg of you to show mercy. She is still not well from the many years she spent in Azkaban. Her mind fared worse than even Crouch's. Surely a madness has overtaken her, and she remains as loyal to you as always. She just can not tell the difference between you and this new Voldemort."

This gave Emily pause. She was well aware that Bellatrix was insane, to some degree. Azkaban had not helped in the slightest. The woman had been a loose canon years before her stay there. Emily and Bellatrix were quite the kindred soul, they both reveled in flaunting their power. The even enjoyed doing it in the same way, torture. Emily had sworn off this habit for Harry, because she knew her lover could not stand to even look at her if still practiced the cruciatus curse on anyone who annoyed her. Though she did still use it when her followers failed her greatly. She came to a decision.

"Consider this a gift to you, Lucius. Your reward for your work recently. Should the dust clear when I kill Voldemort and I see Bellatrix Lestrange, I will kill her on sight. However, should you manage to get the woman into St. Mungo's long term ward before I can do so, I will leave her be. But let me be clear on this, Lucius, should she ever leave that ward, and should we ever cross paths, her life will be forfeit."

She could see the man swallowing hard, but he nodded to her. "Thank you, my lord. I will tell my wife of your merciful decision." Emily smirked as she watched the man hurry off. Mercy he may see, but Emily had no intention of leaving Bellatrix alive after her blatant attempt to kill Harry. Bella would not stand aside and allow her to kill Voldemort, she would intervene. Then Emily would deliver justice to the woman, once and for all.

Briefly, her mind traveled to the other great betrayal she had suffered from recently. Severus Snape had let his true colors fly a year ago, when he directly opposed her to keep Harry Potter away from her in the Ministry of Magic. She knew the man to be at Hogwarts in the beginning of the year, but he had retired midway through. Of course, she had immediately attempted to track him down so she could exact her revenge but nothing had come of it, save for two dead Death Eaters. She could only assume Severus cut them down before they could give him away to her.

Of course, she had sent more, but by then he had vanished from the face of the earth. Due to the time frame that this happened, right after Harry went to see Dumbledore for the last time, Emily assumed that Snape was the one in possession of her horcruxes. She hated the idea of the anchors of very her soul being held by the one man who loathed her more than anyone else on the planet, but she was powerless to do anything about it. She still would make one final horcrux soon, so she would not be bereft for long.

Taking a deep breath, she began to relax only to feel Harry's rise to consciousness slowly make its way into her mind. He had been rather tired from his ordeal the day before, so she had let him sleep as long as he was able. His recovery had taken the better part of an hour, Narcissa wasn't as skilled as her sister. His jaw needed to be rebroken and set, as he had put in in place just slightly out of alignment. His teeth had been summoned and repaired and put back within his mouth. While it was possible to regrow teeth with magic, magic was unable to produce enamel. Emily was certain that with a bit of research she could figure out the reason if she looked into it, but didn't care enough to bother, if his regular teeth could be repaired. His ribs had already been taken care of by her, so all that was left for Narcissa to handle was the large amount of bruising from the collapsed stone.

Emily jumped up and made her way to the fireplace. Harry was at home, and she was eager to see him. After all, he had been too tired and sore the night before for her to reward his efforts from the previous day. She could rectify that now.

* * *

When Harry slowly made his way to consciousness, he first felt the stiffness. The pain had lessened to a degree that was barely noticable, but it was a strain to raise himself off of the bed, and the chore of walking to the washroom was daunting. Once inside, he waved his wand and began running the bath. It was rare for Harry to use magic for mundane tasks such as this, but today was an exception.

Once he had fully submerged himself, the door opened suddenly. Harry, completely naked, and defenseless save for his wand, which was thankfully still in his hand, quickly cast a banishment charm on the door, only just noticing Emily's surprised look before the door slammed into her bodily. Of course the door bounced off of her, with a rather large crack down the middle, and he smiled sheepishly at her.

"Sorry, you caught me off guard there."

Emily only laughed, and walked to the edge of the tub to take a seat, while repairing the door on the way. "Perfectly fine, love. You had a stressful day yesterday. Once you're feeling well, you should take a look at the paper. Its quite flattering of you this morning."

"Give them a week and they'll be dragging me back through the mud. They go back and forth constantly."

Emily smiled at him, and much to his surprised started lowering her fully clothed body into the tub with him. Thankfully Emily had been rather insistent that all the facilities of the house be appropriate for two and the bathtub fell within those parameters. This was not the first time they had bathed together, but it was the first time Emily was fully clothed.

"You're going to ruin those."

She shrugged and vanished her robe, along with the clothes she had under them, and relaxed herself next to him. Her hand nestled itself underneath the small of his back and began gently moving it up and down. A brief moment passed, and Harry figured he better start talking to her about the important things before she moved forward with her rather obvious seduction tactic.

"So, what was up with everything yesterday. You could have let me know I'd be facing off against you."

"In my defense, you never were meant to. I was supposed to be there as soon as she appeared. Then Rabastan and Rodolphus were supposed to put up jinxes to prevent her escape. You were merely supposed to be a casual observer. I had Lucius planted nearby to draw a crowd to witness her destruction. I overlooked Bellatrix's potential betrayal. I honestly never would have seen that coming in a millennia."

"Okay, but what exactly was she?"

"The final horcrux I had in my possession."

Harry blanked for a moment at her words, then he said, "Please tell me you didn't go and make your last horcrux for this purpose."

She poked him in the side while replying, making him jerk, sloshing water over the side of the tub. "Of course not, don't be daft. I've very special plans for my final horcrux. Dumbledore's order found a fake horcrux of mine, instead of the real thing, so I had one laying around."

He laughed. "You made fakes of your horcruxes? That's paranoid, even for you."

"Yes, it would have been, if I had been the one to make it. It was actually your godfather's brother, Regulus who created it. I killed him later, but he hinted rather vaguely that he had stolen it from me. Of course, I went to check on it, but upon seeing the fake, I believed that his vague hint was just smoke and mirrors. I never did look back on the potential theft until all my other horcruxes were stolen and I was in a bit of a bind. So I decided to grasp at a random straw, and out came my lucky number."

She then explained to him what he didn't know. "I had Lucius shore up my identity as Emily Riddle, recent graduate from Ilvermony who met a young Mr. Potter as he was traveling the world over the past year. Of course he fell madly in love with me at first sight, and I tolerated his amorous feelings until I ended up developing some of my own. Now we've a wedding set up for as soon as he turns seventeen and the rest will be, as they say, history."

"Wow, I was the one who fell madly in love with you? You couldn't even keep that part straight?"

"Well who would believe that an older woman would fall for a boy who hasn't even finished his schooling. Who is also is world famous and quite well off. Of course if it had been the other way around the populace would assume me to be some sort of gold digging harlot. But when we paint you as the pursuer, well then things fit quite well together, don't they."

Harry stayed silent for a moment. "You know what, I'm not gonna even argue the point, its not like we could have told everyone the truth either way. But was it worth it? Throwing away your last horcrux like that?"

"Yes."

She said the word with such resolution, that Harry just nodded and didn't question her more on it. It was her soul after all, she was the only one capable of putting a price on it. If she felt that she benefited from this more than she lost, then he would just agree with her.

"So what are you going to do about Bellatrix?"

"Kill her."

"Wow, no love lost, huh?"

"She betrayed me, there is no other option for her. Lucius asked me to spare her and I told him that I would, under certain provisos, but I plan on killing her either way."

Harry snorted at her, and she frowned at him. "Remember the last time you promised to spare someone and didn't do it. Snape ended up betraying you. Maybe, just maybe, you should honor a promise you give to one of your followers."

She looked to the side in distaste, she knew he had a point. After a few more moments of silence, she sighed loudly. "Fine. I won't kill the woman, but I will tell you the same thing I told Lucius, should I ever catch sight of her afterwards, she won't survive the ensuing conflict."

"I'm not really her biggest fan either, you know. She was hell bent on killing me yesterday."

"And yet you seem insistent that I spare her life."

"No, I want you honor your promises with others than just me. Though I am happy to know that I seem to be an exception to most of your misdeeds. If your going to rule the world one day, those you rule will need to trust you."

"And I should be garnering that trust by beginning with the likes of Lucius Malfoy?"

"You should begin somewhere, anywhere really."

Emily sighed. "I came into this bath with the intent to seduce you and yet somehow I'm getting a lecture."

"Well you being naked isn't going to turn me into a gibbering wreck anymore. You've over exposed me to that." Harry put his thumb on her lower lip, parting it from its counterpart and kissed her slowly. As he did so he gradually ran his thumb from the base of her lip, over her chin, between her breasts and kept going until he had it pressed against the bundle of nerves atop her core. "Fortunately, I apparently fell madly in love with you in the States, and can't get enough of you. So I expect you'll still wind up getting what you came here for."

A lot of water wound up on the floor.

* * *

"Harry, a word, please?"

Harry had been browsing the Malfoy Manor while Emily dealt with some 'business'. Usually he was under the impression that her business always involved the Malfoy patriarch, so he was rather surprised to find the man motioning to him from a doorway. He nodded curtly and entered the room with him.

He honestly wasn't too certain as to what he felt towards the man. While Draco came off as a ponce most of the time, his father tended to be more aloof, though he was just as adept as delivering a scathing insult. Harry doubted that he and the man would ever truly see eye to eye, especially considering that the man held strong onto his beliefs of blood supremacy. At the same time, however, the man had been the sole reason he didn't get a face full of the killing curse recently. He also respected the man's skill. The was no way to block the killing curse, but to divert it's trajectory with another killing curse had to have taken incredible aptitude. He strongly doubted that he could have done the same thing. He figured Emily kept them man close for more things than his money and social standing.

"What can I do for you, Mr. Malfoy?"

"Well, you can drop the formalities, for starters. While I may be a great deal older than you among other things, your station as the the boy-who-lived and dark lord's fiance has at the very least placed you on a similar level as my own."

"I'd feel very odd calling you Lucius, but I'll give it a go."

"I would appreciate that. Now, tell me, Harry, what do plan on doing in the future?"

"Er, well, I'm getting married."

The man gave him an exasperated look, "Yes, I am aware. My wife has been most busy with the preparations. I can assure you, your upcoming nuptials have not escaped my notice. I mean further down the line. Once, lets say, when the dark lord is the minister."

"Oh, I actually planned on being at the ministry as well. An office that would protect the basic rights of muggleborns and halfbloods."

Lucius nodded his head at that. "As to be expected. The dark lords distaste for muggles is apparent. Her dislike for muggleborns is also well known. As far as halfbloods, you will find that most purebloods do not mind them as long as they have been brought up to know our ways. We do not like the inclusion of muggle culture you see, Harry. It taints the way we have existed for centuries."

"Lucius, this is going to be something we aren't going to find a compromise on. I was brought up as a muggle. I didn't know a thing about the magical world, or even of its existence until I turned eleven. But I came into this fantastic world and now its as large a part of me as my muggle heritage. I still do many things by hand, you know, even though I can use my wand for just about anything."

"Yes, but we are straying from the point I wished to bring up. I apologize for that, I started the derailment. The dark lord does not wish for you to enter into the politcal realm, Harry."

"Of course she doesn't. She wants to remain unopposed so she can do as she pleases."

Lucius gave a small laugh. "In most circumstances I would agree with you. However, her reasoning behind this is a little more straightforward. She thinks you will not enjoy it."

"What?"

"Miss Riddle, as she has repeatedly insisted that I call her from henceforth, has openly admitted her feelings for you to me. She has expressed that she wishes for you to choose a career path that you will enjoy. I am a powerful man, Harry, you are as well. I want you to ponder what path you may wish to take in the future and then discuss it with me. Together, I am rather certain we can pave your way with ease."

"But in choosing a future outside of politics, how am I supposed to counterbalance Emily?"

"The same way we all counterbalance our partners, Harry."

Harry gave the man a questioning look.

"You sulk."

"You're kidding me."

"On the contrary. I am just as in love with Narcissa now as the day I met her. She cares for me just the same. Whenever one of us, normally me, to be honest, does something the other does not like, we bring it up. A couple weeks of her cold should and I normally cave to what she wants. I've done the same to her on the few rare occasions its happened."

"You think I can just give Emily the cold shoulder if she passes a law I think is unfair? What, is she just going to repeal it the next week?"

"No, I am afraid that is not how the government works. Eventually Miss Riddle plans to do away with the other factions of the government, leaving only the minister's office in control. Wizarding Britain will become rather like a dictatorship. Of course there is no way that the populace will agree to that, but her first act once she is in office is to create a parliament. She will then appoint most of the purebloods heads as well as powerful halfblood family leaders to seats in the new body. The purebloods will have the minority at first, but Miss Riddle has plans to eventually remove her opposition from office. She'll start funneling the power from the normal ministry offices to the new parliament, all under the guise of giving the populace more power. They will lap it up, and with in ten years she will have total control."

"Kind of all the more reason I need to be there to stop that."

"What will you do? What can you do?"

"Oppose the creation of the new governing body."

"You'll be seen as miscreant. No one will elect you into an office if you oppose something that looks as though it gives the people more of a voice, even if you are the boy-who-lived. Listen to me, Harry, you will fail should you try to oppose your fiance on a political level. Its best that you assert your power where you already have it, in your personal relationship."

"That... that just sounds wrong. The idea of using our relationship like that."

"Was that nor your plan from the beginning, though?"

Harry stared at the man in surprise. "How did you know that?"

"Harry, the dark lord killed your parents. I am not so naive to think your relationship with her came about naturally. I will not pretend to know even a portion of the truth, as I do not, but I have taken the liberty to assume some things."

Harry sighed. "Yes, originally that was actually the core of our relationship in the beginning. I enjoyed being with her as a person, but that was before I knew who she was. When I found out the truth, I couldn't help but despise her. But she told me she'd never stop persuing me, that she'd get me eventually, and I knew that she would. So she offered to let me oppose her, to not force her way over me or my views. But now... now I really love Emily. From the bottom of my heart. We've been through so much together. I, I don't want to dirty what we have by trying to hold it over her."

Lucius nodded his head at the young man's words. "You're a good man, Harry, and its clear that you will be an even finer husband to your fiance. But you need to be realistic. You can not be a saint when you are facing off against Emily Riddle. She will never be a good person, much less as good as one as you. If you don't use your relationship against her, she will run over you repeatedly. Either you will put your foot down and use the weapons you have, or you will let her do as she pleases."

Harry stayed quiet, mulling the older mans words over. It was so odd to get this kind of advice. Harry wondered if Sirius would've said the same thing to him, had he been able to tolerate what Harry was doing. Thinking on all the unanswered correspondences he had tried with the man distracted him briefly. He quickly refocused. "You're right, Lucius. I've been naive."

"I just wanted you to be aware of some information before time became too short for you to make use of it."

"Thanks, I appreciate it."

"You're welcome. I have some other matters to attend to, so I will be leaving first. I do wish you a wonderful day, Harry."

Harry didn't glance at the man as left the room. He remained rooted to the spot he stood. He and Lucius had been absorbed in conversation the entire time and he had not really paid any attention to where they were. It was a small sitting room, and Harry made his way to small, but comfortable chair next to a bright window. Letting the sun shine on his face he pondered Lucius Malfoy's words. Harry would have to start seeing his fiance as more than the woman he was in love with. Of course he had always seen who for who she was, but he had never tried to separate his love for her from who she was. Eventually he would have to, he would have to be able to see her as an opponent and nothing more. It hurt him to think that, but he knew it to be true.

"I need more advice, just Lucius isn't going to cut it."

Harry made his way to the floo, isnstructing a house elf to inform Emily that he went back to their home. Once he arrived, he sat himself at Emily's desk.

"One more time." He began to draft a letter.

'Dear Sirius,

I need your help.'


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Sirius Black looked again to the snowy owl perched on his favorite arm chair. He knew the bird wouldn't leave until he opened the letter. She never did. When he tried to ignore it all together he was awoken by her screeching in the middle of the night. He honestly doubted Harry had put her up to it. He had read all of the letters and each and every one of them began with an apology.

He looked at the mess of letters that he had scattered about the coffee table. He had read them over and over to the point where he could recite some by heart. His godson was happy. His godson was engaged. His godson was in love with the devil herself.

He ran a hand through his greying hair. How had things come to this? Dumbledore was gone. The last person who could truly stand against Voldemort's power was dead. And what were the man's final words of wisdom? Trust Harry. As though his teenaged godson could control the most powerful magical force on the planet.

Gently moving from the door sill, he made his way to his chair and opened up the latest letter that he was certain he, once again, wouldn't be able to respond to. Hedwig gave a soft coo and watched him as he broke the wax seal.

Dear Sirius,

I need your help. I know you may not answer me, but things are coming to fruition for Emily faster than I expected. Within five years she plans on being the dictator of magical Britain, and well, her plans are pretty sound. Lucius Malfoy has told me that my best bet to keep a leash on Emily's more detrimental plans would be to leverage our personal relationship, but that... that's honestly not what I want. I don't want for the two of us to go backwards to the constant power plays between each other. We've finally found a sense of peace, and I don't want anything to break that. What should I do? I know you might find it hard to speak with me now. I know what I am doing is probably something you hate me for. I don't blame you, I hated myself when all of this started. But this one's a bit bigger than me and my problems, you know? Emily's going to be away tomorrow, and I was wondering if you and I could meet to talk in Edinburg. I know its a ways away, but I just want to be certain I am away from Emily's prying ears. If you don't that's fine, but if you do, you'll find me at Nicolson's Restaurant at any time during the day. Hope you're doing well.

Harry

P.S. Tell Buckbeak I said hello.

Sirius just sighed. Harry had such a tendency to blame himself. Was he angry at Harry? Of course he was, at one point. How could he not have been? But blame him for the entire fiasco, no, that blame laid with him and Voldemort. Voldemort forced him into a home with no one to show him love, and Sirius had neglected his responsibilities to Harry and also forced him to the Dursleys. It was both of their faults that Harry was starved for all kinds of love and affection.

But Voldemort had been able to offer Harry everything. Sirius could only at best offer Harry the love of a parent and a friend, and he had done so as well as he could since he had been in the boy's life. But Voldemort was able to offer him more. Sirius was certain she fulfilled every role that Harry had never had. Mother, friend, teacher and even lover. She was a woman he could turn to when he was weak or hurt. She was a woman he could turn to when he needed a confidant. She was someone who was more knowledgable than anyone else and certainly was willing to impart it to him. Sirius didn't even want to grace the last category with any thoughts. It sickened him enough as it was.

Harry was a train wreck waiting to happen, and Voldemort was there to cause it and then pick up the pieces. And once again, Harry was turning to him, for advice about the woman, but what could Sirius tell him? How could he keep his views clear of his prejudice for her and give his godson honest counsel? Should he even try?

He sighed again. To be certain, there was no correct answer, he could only do what he thought best. But he had ignored Harry once when Harry had needed him, and that had caused this. He would not ignore him again.

The next morning he apparated to Edinburgh and began asking passersby if they knew of the cafe Harry had mention in his letter. Eventually he found a direction and set off. He came to location after half an hour of wandering and peered through the window. He noticed the unruly mop of black hair straight away. He took a deep breath and went inside.

Harry sat patiently at the table. He was planning on staying here the entire day if he had to. He'd already been here since the place opened. That had been almost two hours ago. He had a book on Quidditch, one without illustrations of course, and was reading it half heartedly. It was only when he heard a deep clearing of one's voice that he looked into the face of a smiling, albeit wryly, Sirius Black. Harry half stood, almost going to hug the man, but he wasn't certain if that was something Sirius would even accept from him right now. Thankfully his uncertainty washed away when the man pulled him the rest of the way up and wrapped his arms tightly around him.

"Good to see you, Harry."

Harry felt his eyes immediately start to burn when his godfather gave him a couple thumps on the back. He had dreaded the man not showing, but he dreaded the reaction his godfather might have even more. This one hug told him that though things may have changed, they hadn't changed that much.

"You too, Sirius."

Harry was finally released from the embrace and he sat back down blinking his eyes quickly. Sirius went to the other side of the table as a waitress showed up and politely asked him what he wanted to eat. Sirius ordered a fairly hearty breakfast and flirted heavily with the pretty woman until she left.

"Somethings never change, do they?"

"Of course, not, Harry. I'm still in my prime, ladies adore my attention."

"Mhmm. I'm sure they do. Thanks for coming."

Sirius let his easy smile fall from his face. "If you need me, I'll be here. No matter what. I thought we established that."

"We did, but with how things went, I wasn't sure if that still applied. You never answered my letters, and over the summer you more often ignored me than spoke to me."

"I didn't mean to ignore you, Harry. I was just so angry at Mad-Eye for what he did. It was dangerous, could have done permanent damage to you. And you were just so different. You were so reserved and I wasn't sure how to broach a conversation with you. I couldn't stand the idea of us talking about Voldemort, so I... just didn't speak."

Harry smiled. He understood being at a loss for words. "Its fine, Sirius. I get it. I just- God damn it." Harry lowered his head, things were definitely about to get ugly.

Sirius looked at him with a puzzled expression before hearing a sickly sweet voice.

"Harry, dear, at least give me a heads up when your planning on leaving London. The tail I had on you couldn't track you, so they came to me. I was quite busy today an- Ah, I see I've interrupted something."

Sirius slowly turned his head around and met the simmering red eyes of Emily Riddle. She addressed him directly. "Well, Mr. Black, I must say, you look well. Its been, what, only a month since we've seen one another?" Sirius kept his mouth shut and didn't speak to the woman. He seemed completely ready to pretend she was nothing but air.

Harry shot a look at his fiance. "What do you mean a month? What did you do, Emily?"

"Come now, Harry, don't just assume something nefarious. Your godfather ignored you. I didn't arrange his release from Azkaban so he could leave you high and dry, you know. So I went to him directly to ask him what was his problem."

Harry gaped at her. "I'm surprised you're alive to be honest."

"Oh, don't be too amazed. He gave every attempt he could at killing me. Even sent his deranged house elf to attack me. I beheaded the disgusting little worm."

"Damn it, Emily, did you have to kill Kreacher. I know he was a little shit, but still."

"I wasn't going to just try and restrain him, Harry. House elves have strange and powerful magic and Sirius here, explicitly order it to kill me. Killing the mongrel was the safest option and to be honest, considering its condition, it was a mercy killing."

"Well, that's great, makes everything okay." His sarcastic tone was apparent. "As you can see, I'm fine. Go run along, do whatever it was you had planned for today. I'd like to talk to my godfather alone."

Emily smiled widely at him before discreetly summoning a nearby seat. "Oh nonsense Harry. You and I have so much to catch up your godfather on, why would I want to miss the opportunity." Halfway through her words, her smile changed to a sneer. "After all seeing as the man abandoned you again, he clearly must be unaware of so much."

Sirius couldn't maintain his silence anymore. "Shut your mouth, Voldemort or I'll finish what my elf failed to do."

Harry seeing that things were devolving in a direction that was could get nasty, especially considering they were in a muggle establishment, wandlessly silenced them both. Both of them glared at him, but he nonchalantly shrugged before speaking.

"Remember where we are, please."

Both of their postures relaxed. Emily was the first to break free of his silencing charm. His wandless magic skills were a marvel, but they were also still very weak. "My apologies. I was, admittedly, rather confrontational."

Sirius was only a few moments late in his reply, but it came nonetheless. "Apology accepted. I wish I could offer you one, but I don't see where its needed."

Emily rolled her eyes, before possessively wrapping an arm around Harry's shoulders before gazing out the window. Harry, almost in sync with his fiance, rolled his eyes when she put her arm around him. The sight made a bark of involuntary laughter come out of Sirius' mouth. The two looked at him strangely and he coughed before speaking.

"We can entertain your fiance briefly before we get back to what we needed to speak about."

Harry raised his eyes at Sirius. Such a show of civility was not what he expected.

Emily, true to her nature, pounced on the offer before it was rescinded. "Why thank you for the hospitality, Sirius, I greatly appreciate it."

The waitress showed up then with Sirius' food and was rather shocked to see a third occupant at the table with the young man who had been there for hours. She asked Emily what she wanted to eat and Emily gave her a deeply disgusted look before managing to school her features and order a light breakfast. Harry caught the interaction and questioned it.

"What was that about?"

"That muggle filth thinks your cute. That's why she hasn't said anything to you about sitting here for two hours."

"Oh, er, that's flattering, I guess."

Emily was clearly unamused. "I would hope that the only one flattering you is me."

"Your the only one who gets anywhere doing it, so that should be enough."

"I suppose it will have to be."

Sirius watched the two bicker casually and was strongly reminded of James and Lily. They bickered almost constantly in Hogwarts. The thought would have made him smile had one of the people before him not been their murderer.

"Well then, Emily, was it? What did you mean earlier when you mentioned a tail on Harry?" Sirius was determined to apply a corkscrew to this woman.

"Yeah, why do you have someone tailing me?"

"Oh don't act so surprised Harry, you must have at least expected a tail, otherwise you wouldn't have been able to lose them."

"You're right, I figured you had one, I'm just surprised you mentioned it first thing when you found me."

"I wasn't in the best of moods once I found out you skipped out of town. I assumed I'd walk in here to find you quite cozy with Ms. Weasley, and then I'd have to commit a murder."

"Wow, possessive much?" Sirius stared at her, mockingly.

"Only in regards to that whore. I've never seen a woman desire a taken man so much."

"Honest to god, Sirius, I'm used to this. She only threatened to murder Ginny a hundred times during my fifth year at Hogwarts. She has issues will jealousy."

"Yes, but there is a difference between issues and blatant insecurity and she's definitely got her broom stick hovering over the latter."

The two men look to Emily, Harry expecting a violent outburst from the accusation, Sirius just hoping to get under the woman's skin. The two were let down however.

"Yes, I suppose if there is one thing I am insecure about, it is Harry."

Had she said this to Harry, alone in the bedroom he'd have not been shocked by the admission. It was becoming more often for her to admit her weaknesses to him. But for her to do so, directly in front of Sirius Black, a man who most certainly hated the very air she breathed, floored him. Sirius, while shocked by the honesty, was more accepting of the statement.

Sirius' food arrived with Emily's following shortly after, and she began to daintily eat. Harry looked at her, picking up on the fact that she wasn't interested in it. "If you weren't hungry, why order something?"

"I just wanted to take that bitches focus off of you. I may have _accidentally_ flashed my engagement ring in front of her face a bit too."

"You're not planning on coming back here to murder some hapless muggle waitress, are you?"

"Depends if she actually tries to slip you her number like she's been thinking for the past quarter of an hour."

Sirius made a disgruntled sound. "Well I guess that means Harry has a better shot than I did. Shame, I thought she wouldn't be able to resist my charm."

"Hmph, frolicking with muggle filth. Such a thing is expected from a dog." Emily shot out a barb, but it seemed as though Sirius had been waiting for this one specifically.

"I don't want to hear that from you. My blood's pure, you're the one with mud in her veins."

Emily's necked snapped around so fast it was impressive you didn't hear it pop. Harry knew she was furious, her eyes were burning with an ember glow. While he hoped she wouldn't try anything, he was ready to jump up and stop her, just in case.

"Thank you for the meal, Harry. I must be leaving." Harry watched, mouth agape as his fiance stood up, slammed her fork down, and walked briskly out of the restaurant.

"Wow, did not expect her to just throw the towel in there. Sirius, did you really have to say that?"

"No, but she is the one who inserted herself into our time. She deserved a bit of flack."

Harry sighed, "I guess you're right. She reaps what she sows."

"You know, Harry, I will always hate her. There is not going to be any way around that."

Harry nodded. "I know. I'm honestly just happy that your willing to still talk to me."

"I won't leave you high and dry again. Speaking of, what did you want to talk to me about precisely?"

"Oh yeah," Harry had almost completely forgotten. "Its pretty much exactly what I said in my letter. Do you think I should use my relationship with Emily against her or try to fight her directly in the politcal realm?"

Sirius smiled fondly at him. "This is another side effect from you being raised by muggles, Harry. You probably expect relationships to be about love and family. But in the magical world, a man and wife involve everything in their marriages. This is because of a simple reasoning. Marriages aren't as fragile in our world."

He continued. "The muggle unions shatter on a whim almost, but here we make magical vows. Muggle vows are made under god, who either doesn't care about enforcing them, or he's just keeping score. Anyway, the point I'm trying to get at is that muggles keep everything out of marriages because just about anything can break them. Magicals don't face that problem. So while I honestly think its completely up to you to decided whether or not you want to try your luck against her in politics, I honestly believe you should drag both of your political views into the bedroom. That's just how we do things."

Harry was more at ease hearing this. Though Lucius Malfoy had done his best to explain things to him earlier, he didn't have the way with words that Sirius did. Sirius knew what was preventing Harry from doing something and he addressed that issue first. While Lucius may have had the best intentions, it was Sirius who was more equipped to handle it.

Harry was just about to thank his godfather, before the man opened his mouth and let absurdity fly. "Since we are speaking about important things, what are you feelings on political assassinations?"

Harry cocked his head to the side and gave his godfather a long look. "Really?"

"Just testing the waters."

"You can't murder my fiance, Sirius. For one she won't even stay dead, as I am sure you know." At Sirius' nod he continued. "For another, I doubt any one person has the skill to do it. You'd have to get a small army together."

"I hate to be the bearer of surprising news, but I hear that there is an organization, a certain Order, if you will, dedicated to that very task."

Harry let a smile past his lips. "Yes, one that, to my knowledge, is no longer actively attempting to harm my fiance, unless she does something to warrant it."

Sirius shrugged, before polishing off the last of his toast. "Well I can't say that I'd be remorseful should the woman take a step backwards. I'd feel bad for the widower, however."

"I feel like I should be more upset about all the inferences to kill my fiance, but considering the very high chance that I may end up being the one to do the deed, should push come to shove, I can't say I am surprised I don't." Harry tilted his head up to look at the ceiling, while taking a deep sigh. Morbid joking aside, he fervently hoped Emily stayed true to her promises to him. He hated the idea of things spiraling out of his control, and if he had to one day resort to what Sirius was talking about, then control would be a distant memory.

Sirius face lost its humor and he looked to him. "If it comes to that, what will you do?"

Harry gave a small chuckle. "I won't kill her Sirius." He turned his face back at his godfather. "I am no longer capable of killing Emily. I love her too much." To his surprise, Sirius nodded his head.

"Its not exactly shocking to hear you say that. What's plan B?"

"Rip her soul out. Destroy the body. Put her in a form where she can't hurt anyone ever again."

"Can you bring yourself to do that? Knowing that she will probably hate you for the rest of your life?"

Harry smiled sadly. "I don't think she's capable of hating me, not as long as I have this." He pointed to his scar. "Angry, definitely. Probably constantly. But I'll spend every moment of the rest of our lives showing her that I will love her for eternity. Maybe one day it'll be enough for her to forgive me. One day, once the world grows cold, when there is no one left to hurt, I'll make her a new body and we'll start again."

"I don't think you'll last that long, Harry."

"As long as my horcrux is safe I will."

Sirius' face turned white. "Harry, please tell me you didn't."

"It wasn't made in the traditional sense Sirius, relax. I don't want to talk about how we made it, even now it disturbs me greatly, but no one died. I had to do it, to prevent any more incidents like the one in Egypt. At least now Emily has the security of knowing I can always come back to her. She won't have to do the things she did back then."

Sirius visibly shivered. "Good. Good. I panicked, briefly." He put on a strained smile. "Its good to know you'll outlive me though, and live long enough to keep Voldemort's toes behind the line."

Harry smirked. "You know, you're going to have to start calling her Emily. There's actually a Voldemort on the loose now, so I might start getting confused."

"You're getting confused? How do you think we felt when Ginny comes up to all of us and says, 'There's another Emily Riddle, but this ones bad.' That sentence didn't even make any bloody sense. We finally got the details out of here and most of the Order wanted to contact Snape and have him get r-... I shouldn't have said that."

Harry laughed. "No worries, Sirius. Emily is already pretty certain Snape has her horcruxes. His disappearance matched up too well with Dumbledore's news. She's already given up the search for him, though for a solid month, she had every person under her looking. She knows when a battle's lost. As long as no one is dicking around with them, they won't gain a form. I'm not too certain how they work, but they are parasites. They need a host, and that host has to be willing. They aren't strong enough to force someone."

"That diary seemed strong enough."

"The diary was a special circumstance. An experiment. One that lead Emily to the current plan of unleashing another Voldemort. Which was a terrible idea, but I won't bother chastising her for it. My words won't make it past her ego. Had Bellatrix not betrayed her, then Voldemort never would've gotten out of there alive."

"Yeah, that was a crazy tale. Ginny had to fill us in on bits and pieces of it. I don't like how Vol- I mean, Emily, is using her to pass us information. She's too young to be dealing with a monster like her."

"She's faced that monster already, though. She was the victim of the diary, after all. Emily refuses to discuss Ginny with me in any way, so I don't have any information for you there. She's insanely jealous of her."

Sirius gave Harry a rogue grin. "Well, I'd like throw my vote in for the ginger. I think she'd be a better woman for you."

Harry laughed. "Bad thing is, you're right. She is. Ginny would be worlds better for me than Emily. But I'm not in love with Ginny. I don't think I ever could be. Emily... Emily's become my one and only. There won't be anyone else."

"Polls already closed then. Damn. Worth a shot."

Harry smiled. "For a long time now, I thought I lost this. My relationship with my godfather. I... I'm really happy I was wrong."

"I'm glad I forced myself to come here. I've blamed myself for all this, you know. Well, myself and Emily. We're the ones at fault. I couldn't blame you. That woman would've gotten you, one way or another, and to be honest, I'm kind of glad you were mostly willing. The idea of her shoving amortentia down your throat every day almost made me physically sick. I'm more at ease knowing you can actually be happy, and aren't just being totally forced into this."

Harry turned his gaze to the window. "It almost wasn't. I begged her to kill me once, rather than fall in love with her. It terrified me. Back then, I was so scared of it. I'd always wanted to loved, but by her... it sickened me. I was disgusted. But she told me I had no real choice. I could choose to fight and lose, or I could choose to try and love her. I chose to try and love her not only because I thought I deserved it, but also because she owed it to me. I thought that she didn't deserve to take my chance at finding love away."

"No, she didn't. And she owes you so much more. She owes many people so much, considering what she has taken from them, but most importantly you. It's a debt she'll never come close to paying."

"She won't, but its something I've already forgiven her for. If I didn't, this whole relationship would have collapsed on top of us. I won't forget, and she won't either, but we refuse to look backwards. I know everything that she has done, every crime, every misdeed, she shared everything with me, so we could go forward. I do the same by doing everything I can so she doesn't stray off course on her journey with me."

The two men stayed silent for a bit. Sirius sighed and asked, "When did you get to be so capable? No one other than you could have done this."

"Its not like I just suddenly grew up. I've had an amazing, totally insane, woman beside me. She has more issues than the daily prophet, but she has loved me and supported me whole heartedly from the beginning. Even when I didn't want it."

Sirius groaned. "Okay, you can stop laying it on so thick. I get it, you want me to see her as a different person."

Harry chuckled. "A little too obvious?"

"I believed the loving part, but the supporting bit? No one would buy that. I'm sure she spends half of her time treating you as an object rather than a person."

"You're not wrong. She kind of does. But we've made some strides forwards in the last few months where that's concerned."

"Well at least she can change... in small amounts."

"Yeah, she once told me she'd never be a good person. I believe that to be one hundred percent true. But I think she can get pretty close."

Once again the two men grew silent. The waitress came to drop off their bill and the two realized they'd been speaking for close to an hour. Sirius stood up.

"Oh how time flies. I should be getting back. The order will probably be eager to get an update on you."

Harry almost wanted to ask the man to stay, but understood that he'd already asked for so much from the man just by asking him to show up. His godfather, however, noticed the look his godson had on his face.

"What is it?"

"Er, nothing. Be safe getting back."

Sirius was not to be fooled. He took his seat and asked again, "What is it? Really?"

Harry didn't want to sound so childish by asking the man to stay, so thought of something else. "Do you think we could do this again sometime?"

"Sure. You can always floo over if you want. I have a home all to myself now, though I bought it with the intention of you living there. So, naturally you already have a room. The floo address is under the name 'the Doghouse'."

Harry rolled his eyes. "That's kind of lame."

"Oh please, you should've heard what Remus wanted his to be called when he was a teenager. 'Wolf's Den'. Back in the day we all wanted to name our floo addresses something that had to do with our animagus form. Your dad ironically wanted 'Stalker's Landing', but your mother told him that was terrible. She wasn't a fan of deer stalking from what I'm aware."

"I'm curious, what did Peter want?"

Sirius grimaced. "Bastard had the best name of all of us, unfortunately. Group of rats is called a mischief, so he wanted his place named 'The Mischief'. Which, of course, with our reputation, we were all jealous of him."

"I can imagine."

"Anyway, I sure I don't have to say this, but this invitation does not extend to your fiance. I'm sorry, but I don't want that woman in my home. I've already made it clear to her that I don't ever wish to see her face there again."

"Understood. I'll make sure she doesn't forget."

"I'll see you later, then, Harry. Take care."

The man gathered his things and was about to leave before Harry stopped him.

"Sirius?"

"Hm?"

"I know its a lot to ask, but... about my wedding."

Sirius looked at him carefully. "Honestly, I'm on the fence about it. But your mother and father would murder me if I missed it, so I'll be there."

Harry grinned, stood and embraced the man one last time. Sirius squeezed him tight and gave him another two rough pats on the back before paying his bill and leaving.

Harry also gathered his coat and made his way to the front to pay. He was informed by the waitress that the bill had already been taken care of and Harry chuckled. His godfather was a slick one. He made his way to the restroom and with a sharp crack, apparated home.


	23. Chapter 23

A/N: This brings us to the end of book 2. I know things snowballed here, and I tossed a couple ideas around for another chapter to be stuffed in here, but nothing really fit.

Chapter 23

Ron Weasley fidgeted in his black dress robes. He was so nervous he wanted to sweat, but he knew that he had to stay calm. This wasn't made easy since he bloody hated being in these robes. Nothing could happen to his appearance. Or else, well... he didn't want to think about it.

" _Look here, Mr. Weasley. You will not act like a buffoon today. You will be present where you need to be present, and you will keep you appearance impeccable. If you even think about eating with you normal set of manners and show up at the end of the aisle with food staining your dress robes I will hex you so badly Harry won't speak to me for a month. Are we clear?"_

While Ron had a strong distaste for Harry's fiance, soon to be wife, the woman still scared the hell out of him. It was made even worse by the fact that whenever she spoke to him, she still sounded like his old defense professor. He felt nervous. Who'd have thought that he'd be someone's best man so soon after becoming of age? The worst part about Emily's threats was that Harry told him Emily didn't even give a toss about the ceremony. She just cared about the bonds. But this was also some sort of politcal move apparently.

He looked around him and saw the faces of hundreds of people. Every single big name in the wizarding world was here. Hell, even the entire Order had showed up. The finest food, the most extravagant decorations, even the venue looked amazing. Ron knew that this was the very beginning of Emily's plans. When Harry invited him to go dress robe shopping months ago, he had thought it was going to be a simple affair. But as soon as the two men made it to Madame Malkin's, Harry had given him a look and said, "You know you're the best man, right?"

"What?!"

"Well, I thought it was obvious. Who else was going to do it? Hermione?"

"Harry, mate, your girlfriend and I, well, we don't really get on all that well. Maybe you should pick someone else."

"Look mate, its either you or Draco Mal-"

"I'll do it."

Harry had given him a smirk and the two had entered the establishment. Of course, Harry had already picked what style of robes he had wanted for his groomsmen, they just needed to be fitted. It was Emily who had decided on the material. Ron could tell the set of robes that were being adjusted on their body had to be rather fancy. They flowed almost on their own free will and he noticed even Madame Malkim refused to touch them.

"Harry, what are these made out of?"

"Er, you don't really wanna know, Ron."

"Nah, course I do, what is it?"

He watched his friend grimace. "Living shrouds."

"What the bloody hell is that?"

"They're made from dead lethifolds, mate."

Ron's eyes opened as far as they could go and he almost knocked the poor seamstress down in his hurry to get the dangerous, carnivorous beast off of his body.

"Are you mad, Harry? Those things eat people alive by covering their bodies and suffocating them, and you've got the bloody thing on like its a winter shawl."

"I know what they do Ron. I came across one in Florida, back in the states. Scared me out of my wits. But these are dead mate. They won't hurt us."

Ron didn't stop, though. "But that doesn't explain why your using it as clothing. Its a class five dangerous beast. What is the point of wearing it to a wedding? Hell, what's the point of you wearing it to YOUR wedding?"

Harry sighed. "Because this whole thing is about status. Using a class five beast as piece of clothing will, somehow, flaunt Emily's status above everyone else. Look Ron, I'm not much of a fan of it either. But at least you only have to deal with a dead lethifold stitched with acromantula silk. The inside of my robes are lined with Nundu fur."

Ron's mouth dropped. "Are you taking the piss?"

"No, being completely serious. Emily took a day trip to Africa to pick the pelt up a week ago."

Ron stammered an apology to the seamstress and returned to his position in the shop in the fitting area. "She must've paid a fortune for it. Its the most dangerous creature alive, after all."

Harry smirked while looking straight ahead. "I don't think she paid for it, Ron. Which means that its probably only the second most dangerous creature alive."

Even now, the very idea that Emily Riddle went out and skinned a nundu gave him a cold shiver. After all, its not like you can cast the killing curse on it. There were loads of creatures that the killing curse just can't handle. To use the curse on a muggle or wizard was quite simple. You just needed to use enough magic to cease all biological functions in their bodies. It takes a bit of extra force against a witch or wizard due to their magic, but since magic isn't inherently tied to their body's function, its not much of a difference.

But a nundu. That thing is on an entirely different classification. It'd be like trying to use the killing curse on a dragon. The magical power to stop that thing from living is unimaginable. Ron couldn't fathom how she did it, but he saw the very fur on his best mates robes that day and knew she'd done it somehow.

"And that's the woman I threw a killing curse at." He murmured to himself. Ron couldn't claim that he was chummy with Emily, but the two had mended some fences recently. The woman had given a formal apology for Lucius Malfoy's actions in delivering the diary to his sister. That had never been part of her plan. After an explanation, Ron understood that the diary was a magical version of Emily, but not the real Emily.

So lost in thought, he didn't notice Hermione nudging him until she got a bit more forceful and accidentally clipped his ribs. "Oomph, wazzat?"

"Ron, its time, look. You're the only one not in place."

Sure enough, Ron looked to the end of the aisle to see everyone in their places but him. "Thanks, Hermioine." He rose and made his way to his spot near the center of the aisle next to his best friend. Harry gave him a pointed look while he was on his way.

"Saw you zoning out over there. Had to make a few gestures to Hermione to get you up here."

Ron grinned, "Thanks for that. Glad you didn't have us do some fancy procession that all those swots Emily conned in to being her bridesmaids have to put up with."

"Yeah well, she told me that it was my decision, and I figured you blokes would be happy to keep it simple."

* * *

A few moments later the light music changed its tune and slowly twelve different women made their way slowly down the aisle. Emily's bridesmaids were all pureblood daughter's of prominent families between the ages of fourteen and twenty. Emily had wanted to go up to sixteen, but insisted that her number had to match the amount of Harry's groomsmen. Her husband, who generally kept to himself, didn't have many to choose from. He had Neville, Seamus, Dean, Fred, George, Percy, Cedric, Oliver Wood, Victor Krum, Draco, Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle. Emily insisted he invite Victor and he was surprised when the famous seeker said yes. He had obviously been grasping at straws to fill in space and Emily subtly urged Draco to offer up his two cronies to help.

When Emily had urged him to find more, he told her that he'd ask Hagrid and Dudley if they'd like to volunteer. She had raised her head, sniffed at him, and then walked away. As if she'd share the limelight with a muggle or a stupid half breed. She didn't bring it up again after that. They had almost gotten into a row when Hagrid's invitation to the actual wedding was brought up.

"No, Harry. We aren't going to have some half-breed giant at our wedding. It will look bad."

"It'll look bad? Are you being serious. I don't care what it looks like, Hagrid's my friend, and he's going to be there if he wants to be."

"No, he will not."

"If he's not invited, consider my RSVP canceled as well."

"Don't be stupid, you're the groom." She scoffed at him.

Harry stared at her. "Then I think you should know what I'm getting at."

Emily immediately changed her tune and relented after that. She was still so used to walking all over people that whenever Harry put his foot down on an issue, he had to stomp, otherwise she didn't notice. A fault she was working on, she promised him. As the last of her bridesmaids took their place, she took a deep breath, her cue was about to arrive. She felt somewhat nauseous, clearly something she had eaten recently disagreed with her.

* * *

Harry remembered their arguments over some of the wedding plans with a sigh. There had been a handful of such hiccups in the past month, but they were finally here. This was it, the stage was set, and he knew his lines by heart. But he was also paranoid that something was going to go wrong. Emily had assured him that Voldemort wouldn't be showing up, and if she did, it would be alone. Bellatrix's wounds went far beyond life threatening and though she hung on by a thread thanks to the blood of a unicorn, she had a terribly long road to recovery.

Finally the music changed to the standard wedding march and the gazes of hundreds of guests turned to look down the incredibly long grass aisle to see a young woman in a beautiful deep crimson set of dress robes start walking down the aisle. Harry smiled, Emily certainly wouldn't wear a pure color like white. She was far to bold for something like that, even if it was what most would expect.

Harry watched his fiance walk down the aisle, but he noticed something was amiss. It was only when Emily had covered half the distance that Harry understood and his smile was turned into a soft chuckle. Emily was moving double time. She took two steps to the beats of the music where she was only supposed to take one. He wasn't sure if she was just that eager to get to the vows part, or if she was just in a hurry in general.

Even though it sort of looked like she was speeding down the aisle, she never lost the sense of grace she gave off. She held her head high and had an almost stern look on her face. The music which had been tailored to the length of the walk was cut off halfway due to her pace and even the bonder was slightly off kilter.

"D- ahem, Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today..."

Harry completely zoned out on the man speaking and focused completely on the woman before him. She gently huffed, whispering "Can you believe they expected me to crawl along a hundred and twenty meters at that pace? Not today."

The bonder paused, possibly overhearing the woman's words, before realizing that this was probably the most important bonding of his life and quickly resumed his rhetoric. He couldn't lose focus even if the groom and bride wanted to whisper sweet nothings to one another.

"You kept it stylish."

"Thank you, love."

The minister cleared his throat and Harry took this to be the time for him to recite his vows, but Emily suddenly put a finger to his lips. She had the freedom to speak her vows without anyone to over hear. Such things were private, and no one was meant to hear them other than the bonder and he was under oath to never speak of the things he heard.

"Harry Potter, I don't wish to speak to you of things you already know. But in the hear and now, you know all that I am and all that I have been. So I will speak to you of things that have yet to come. Today you shall become one with me in as close a manner that you can. You will finally be tied to me as I am tied to you. I promise to love you. I promise to keep you safe and keep you pure. I will protect you from the worst that I am, and share with you the best of me. We shall never part, and should death take you, I will follow, because even though that void is what terrifies me more than anything else, to greet that nothingness with you, is far more bearable than to face life here without you."

Harry's mouth dried up instantly. He couldn't even believe his ears. Emily had, under a magical oath, declared that if he died, she would follow him. He opened his mouth and could only close it. He lost the ability to speak. He was almost panicking, and did the only thing he could think of to remain calm. He leaned towards Emily and kissed her on the forehead. However, he did not break the contact. He remained there, soaking in her presence, allowing her to simply be with him and help him find his center.

After what felt like an age, he pulled away from her and opened his mouth to speak his own vows. "Emily Riddle, we've been through hell together. Most of it, was totally your fault. But it was the road through hell that lead us to the city of gold we find ourselves in. Things weren't perfect, and they never will be, but as long as we stay together, it will always be a journey worth taking. I promise to love you. I promise to walk with you, through the good and the bad. I will protect the best that you are and forgive the worst that you can be. And death will never lay a hand on you, because we both know its too scared."

He completely threw out his rehearsed lines, and responded to her vows in kind. As for her last vow, there was no need to respond, he knew she would never let him die. She was Emily Riddle, almost Potter, and she was capable of anything. She knew it too.

Once he finished, he saw her let loose a rare smile. One of her giddy childish ones, one that she was apprehensive to display after seventy years of life. He knew that he'd made a good choice with his impromptu changes.

The bonding was done soon after that. With a wave of his wand, the bonder pronounced them Mr. and Mrs. Potter, and the two made their way back down the aisle and into the Malfoy manor where the reception was going to be held. This was where Emily was supposed to start digging her heels into the rest of the populace, but Harry couldn't help but drag her off to a side corridor.

"You are aware that the bond you just made could severely bite you in the arse, right?"

She pecked him on the cheek. "If you ever end up dying Harry, it will be a moot point. If someone succeeds in killing you, it will mean I am already dead."

"Or, with the precautions you've taken, bodiless."

"In that case, with the precautions _we've_ take, then we'll both be fine, just... inconvenienced."

"Alright, just wanted to make sure you were aware."

"Of course, now, let's go greet our guests. You, Mr. Potter, are my arm candy for the evening. I need you to make me look good."

"In those robes, I don't have to do much. I love you in red, have I ever told you that?"

Emily laughed in a light, sultry tone. "Oh please, you love me in anything, and you love me more in nothing."

The two of them stood in front of the entrance for half an hour. Each greeting was swift, normally a simple congratulations and a thank you. However, Emily dragged out the conversations somewhat when it was an important figure. Eventually the two of them made it to the main hall, which had to be expanded beyond its already massive size to fit the six hundred guests that had been invited. Thankfully only about half of the guests chose to use the entrance that the newly wed couple stood at, with the other half entering through two other doorways, situated around the massive room.

Lunch was the first order of business. Then came dancing. Harry had originally told Ron that he had to make a toast at some point during the meal, but Emily laughed at him and told him that not all muggle traditions were held up in the magical world. Ron was happy to hear that, he told Harry he hated the idea of saying something so important in front of hundreds of people.

The dining experience was the same as the Yule Ball in Harry's fourth year, though the menu's were far more extravagant. There were four different pages to it, front and back. The drink selection was limited however, elven wine, pumpkin juice and butter beer. Harry ordered his food and a glass of butter beer, but after a few bites of his steak and kidney pie, he noticed his butter beer glass only held water. Thinking this was some sort of fluke, he vanished the glass and ordered again. Happy to see the correct beverage appear, he was similarly shocked when it suddenly became water. He turned to his wife.

"I know a switching spell when I see it. What did you do to the drinks?"

"Poison."

Harry snorted in amusement, then contritely said, "That's not funny. What did you do?"

Emily smiled at him. "Nothing harmful, just a pinch of a certain potion, no one will be the worse for wear, I promise."

Harry once again vanished his drink, before ordering another butter beer. "Then it shouldn't matter if I have some." Harry tried to quickly down the drink, but this time, instead of the complex movements of a switching spell, Emily just vanished his glass, making the contents splash on his lap.

Harry closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "You're a dick, Emily. What did you do?"

Emily sighed before leaning close to him. "Its a simple forgetfulness potion Harry. Anyone who drinks it and knows who I truly am will soon forget. With the existence of an actual Voldemort, it will be simple for people's memories to fill in the blanks."

He looked at her, aghast. "What is it with you and fucking with other people's memories? I knew you had to be plotting something when you told me to invite the Order here. 'On the off chance Voldemort does appear at the wedding, it would be best to have some extra security.' It sounded like bullshit then and obviously its bullshit now. What will you do when the Order fails to contact Snape and he destroys you know what?"

Emily frowned. "It's not really messing with memories Harry. They are forgetting one fact, my identity. Their feeling towards me won't change, though they will probably grow warmer to me as they don't know me too well, the only reason they dislike me is because I am who I am. As for my certain... possessions, they are no longer in my control. They are as good as lost to me already. I will be making one more soon enough, and I have you for the interim. In doing this, I will erase the last of my opposition, Harry. It will no longer exist against me, but against this new threat. The only ones who won't partake of the potion are you and I, as well as Lucius Malfoy."

"What about your followers in Azkaban?"

"They've already been dealt with."

"That sounds, ominous. Bellatrix and Voldemort?"

"Once I kill Voldemort no one will believe that raving lunatic of a woman."

The two of them cut of their conversation as loud foot falls someone's approach. Rubeus Hagrid's large form took up their view.

"Happy Birthday and congratulations Harry. I must say, I didn't expect your wedding to be happening so soon."

Harry smiled, noticing Hagrids rather large glass of Elvin Wine. "I'm happy you could come, Hagrid, Emily and I appreciate it."

At this, Hagrid took one look at Emily, gave a huff and completely ignored her as he said goodbye to Harry. "And what exactly is the dosage for half-giants to forget something, Emily?"

"I'm not too sure if the potion even works on giants, to be honest. Still, its not like the man will say or do anything. Without Dumbledore to cover his ass, the man's a coward."

Harry bristled at that. "Hagrid loved and respected Dumbledore more than anyone else I know. Please don't talk about him like that."

Emily shrugged her shoulder's but didn't try to continue the conversation. Soon enough, the food was cleared and Emily and Harry rose to start the dancing. "Tell me, Harry, have we ever danced in public before?"

"Not that I recall, no. Well we did dance in that muggle park one night, but I don't think anyone was around."

"A first, for us, then. The first of as many things that we can fill the rest of our lives with." The dancing was slow, but after the first song, other couples joined in and the music eventually grew in tempo. Emily refused anyone's offer's to dance, and she refused Harry's invitations for him. "You vowed not to leave my side, after all. Can't have you breaking it so soon," she joked.

The next hour was a blur for Harry, countless faces passed his view as Emily and he twisted and turned. He swore he even saw a young woman with rather shocking silver hair. He meant to ask Emily if she had invited any Veela, but the image slipped his mind after a few minutes. Odds are one of Fluer's family members had shown up. Harry had invited all of the contestants of the Triwizard tournament.

Finally the two of them made their way back to their table to rest. Emily would have been happy to continue dancing until dawn, but she could see that Harry was beginning to tire. His feet were also sore enough to where she could feel the tenderness through their connection. The two of them sat for another hour as guests continued to come up to them with congratulations. Harry knew the potion was working as eventually more and more Order members came to greet them as well. They all treated Emily rather frostily, but there was no open hostility.

"Congratulations Harry, Emily." The strained smile of Ginny Weasley was directed at them. It was obvious the girl was doing her best to appear happy for the newlywed couple.

"Thanks, Ginny."

"Yes, thank you very much, Ginevra. We appreciate that you were able to come, though it was such a shame you couldn't be a part of my bridal party."

The young red head tilted her head slightly, all the while holding the same smile. "Sorry, its just that we know each other so little, I didn't wish to take the honor from another of your friends. After all, it was all Harry could do just to match them with his number of groomsmen."

Emily had opened her mouth to speak again, but Harry gently laid a hand on her thigh to get her to stop tormenting the girl. Emily gently bade her goodbye while she entwined her hand with her husband's.

"Well, Harry, I think your parents would be proud." Sirius was not as collected as Ginny, rather he was most definitely sloshed. It was a marvel that the man sounded coherent while speaking. "As for you Mrs. Potter. I know we've never really gotten along well, but we're family now. No reason we can't leave the past in the past."

"I am delighted to hear that, Mr. Black. I am overjoyed to be considered part of _Harry_ 's family." Emily intentionally said Harry and not Sirius as she wanted it to be clear she honestly didn't care what the man thought of her. But the man was far too inebriated to pick up on it.

"Excellent, you two are more than welcome to come visit my place at any time. I'll remove the wards keeping your wife out, Harry. The two of you should come by one night for dinner.

As his godfather left, Harry let out a sigh. "You can't hate him forever for one little comment, you know."

"Watch me." She huffed. "The man went and got plastered at my wedding, not something I can condone."

Harry lowered his tone to a whisper. "He watched the son of his two best friends get married to the woman who killed them. Are you surprised he started drinking?"

Once again, Emily didn't answer him with words, but she did nod her head at his comment.

Soon, the daylight was drawing to an end. Emily who had been full of energy the entire day, finally leaned her head against his shoulders, softly asking him if he was ready to leave.

"Harry, I think its time we left. Are you ready?"

"Sure, where are we going?"

Emily smiled at him, "Just home. I didn't plan anything special. We'll be together, and we'll keep to ourselves for a week or so. No interruptions. Even if Voldemort walks into the ministry, Lucius won't bother us. If he does, I'll turn his son into a eunuch."

"That's a bit harsh, don't you think?"

"Not at all."

Harry laughed lightly before standing up out of his seat. He offered a hand to his wife, before scanning the room for Lucius Malfoy. Harry stared at the man long enough to catch his eye and nodded at the man to let them know they were leaving. The man returned the gesture and Harry walked with Emily to one of the Floo places in the manor.

In a flash of flame the couple exited the grate and were finally home. Emily wasted no time in making her way to the bedroom and Harry was hot on her heels. Before Emily could enter, however she was stopped by her husbands hand holding her wrist.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, just one tradition I'd rather not throw out."

And with that, he scooped his wife up and crossed the thresh hold to the bedroom. He carried her straight to the bed and laid her gently on its surface, before climbing on top of her. They were both still fully clothed in the attire for the evening, but Harry only had eyes for her face.

She asked him softly, "Do you have any regrets?"

"A hundred or so." He replied with a small smile. "But not a single one would I take back, as they led me straight to you."

A/N: Thanks for reading, guys. I appreciate it. 2.5 will start of at the same moment this one ended. First sentence will be "But not a single one would I take back, as they led me straight to you." So, we'll be diving straight into it. I'll start it up soon and who knows, might even get the first chapter out by tomorrow (though don't hold your breath, I only have one day off this week to make up the time I called out when I busted my leg.) Anywho, I will see you wonderful people later.


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